[1992-11-26-AJW-Dream Rush] Bull Nakano vs Aja Kong

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[FLIK]

(3WA World Title) Bull Nakano © vs Aja Kong

Won't go into too many details for this match. The action is good, very good but, lots of smash mouth power stuff, brawling, big moves, stiff strikes, etc.. Bull breaks out a freaking diving sunset flip off the top rope in a cool moment. But this is so much more then a wrestling match and about so much more then what went down bell to bell. Bull's been champion a few months shy of 3 years, the undisputed #1 top wrestler in the company and for almost 2 & 1/2 years Aja's been her main rival. A lot of others have come and gone along the way trying to take Bull out. Toyota, Hokuto, Kyoko, Hotta, Yamada, Monster Ripper, etc... some came close, some not so much but none came closer then Aja and in the end it could only, should only have been her to finally take Bull down. Bison is in Aja's corner which is fitting as it was never about just Aja & Bull. It was about Jungle Jack vs Gokumonto, Aja & Bison tearing away from Bull's gang to form their own crew in a war to take her down, in a war for respect. Grizzly Iwamoto bowed out early in the feud, Mika Takahashi retired last year, all the other major players involved from both sides are ringside in addition to Bison. The hatchet between Aja & Bull was allready buried earlier in the year as they embraced as friends once again but so long as Bull still had the big red belt it could never be over. This is the final passing of the torch, this is the ending of an era. Lots of cool little touches I hadn't noticed before in earlier viewings in this match. Bull misses the guiloteen leg drop, Aja follows up giving a shout out to Ito and hitting a bunch of running foot stomps. Bull regains controll a little later on and hits the leg drop this time but it's no longer strong enough to get her the win as Aja kicks out. Bull hits the Megadeath rolling leg drop and what was once an instant win is no longer strong enough to get her the win as Aja kicks out. Bull's last ditch, nothing left in the tank, ultimate move the moonsault misses and that allows Aja to make her final rally. Aja hits a german, 3 big urakens, shouts out to Bison and bust out the blazing chops, all for near falls. Finally, FINALLY, Aja ends this match, ends this 2+ year struggle, surpases her former leader, her rival, her friend by beating Bull with her own move, Aja hits a guiloteen leg drop of her own and becomes the new champ. Lots of emotion post match, Aja & Bull both legit in tears giving speaches, they bow to each other and Bison comes in as well for 1 final group hug. Great match, amazing story, perfect ending.

[Eduardo]

I was always very curious about what they said to each other in the post-match speech. It definitely seemed very emotional.

[Loss]

One of the best parts of all this is all the dead lifting and difficulty applying basic moves. Bull realizes applying a camel clutch on Kong isn't easy. Kong realizes bridging up with Bull isn't easy. So the early, really basic stuff has this real struggle to it, and they're Fuchi-like in how they milk the drama of the holds for everything they're worth. Even simple things like Aja's reverse chinlock seem life or death because Bull screams out in pain as she has it applied. Bull finds an opening to go after Aja's knee, and she is smart enough to create space and walk it off. The thing about this match that I love is the depth in the selling -- even when Aja applies a move or hold, it hurts her because Bull is so big compared to her normal opponents. So advantages are also disadvantages. Nothing is as simple as it seems. When trying to outwrestle Bull produces limited results, Aja decides to brawl her way through this and takes the match through the crowd, throwing rows of chairs at Bull. Bull, realizing what's happening, gets back to the ring as soon as she can and starts dropping bombs. But by this time, even that has limited results, as Aja has built up her confidence and has Big Mo on her side. From here on, it's anyone's game, as they shift momentum back and forth to the end, both getting really desperate and throwing everything they have out in an attempt to win the match. Great finish, as Aja secures the win with the top rope guillotine legdrop, the same signature move Bull tried on her moments before where Aja just barely managed to kick out. And so begins a new era. Only one match can steal this show, but I think I'm ready to argue this as the best wrestling card in history.

[Tim Evans]

Normally I would be upset about the crying but it just works here. Great match. Bull has to be in the running for wrestler of the year.

[Zenjo]

How ironic that Bison would retire on the very night that the career of her partner and classmate should reach it's pinnacle. Of course the Beasty Lady would return once time had healed some wounds.

 

I said about the April match that these 2 were not well matched opponants in singles. I stand by that. It's what makes it all the more amazing that they produced such an excellent match on this day. Kong was good, but this is one of the best performances of Bulls career. She made the match what it was and was so classy in putting over Aja big time. Great play off the previous finish before Aja levelled up and put the champion away with her own move. Wonderful postmatch scenes, very emotional. It was such an historic occasion with the only WWWA title change in a 5 year period. A definitive changing of the guard moment on a night where AJW and the whole of Joshi Puroresu entered a new era. I don't see how they could have done this any better. Years ago when I first watched this it didn't have half as much impact. I appreciated it so much more after following the journey of the Nakano era.

[NintendoLogic]

I keep hearing that Bull Nakano was better than Aja Kong, but everything I've seen indicates that the reverse is true, so I've figured that maybe I hadn't seen the right Bull matches. Well, a match like this is as much of an apples-to-apples comparison as you can get, and after watching it, I feel secure in considering Aja the better of the two. She sells better, and her offense is more appropriate for her role. Bull wrestles too much like a fat Kyoko Inoue. Well, fatter.

[FLIK]

Meh, I like Aja more as well but I think you're way under selling Bull. Wait until you get through 90 & 91 then see if you change your mind as she goes through one of the all time great title runs anywhear in wrestling ever.

[PeteF3]

Aja's got not one, but two square trash cans--and they're gold, so some serious shit's going down. But mercifully they don't play any role in the match, as this is very deliberate and mat-based, befitting a major title match. Another "traditionally" laid out match, with a nice slow organic build to when the brawling starts and then when they start unleashing the big moves. Nakano throws everything at Aja, and we get some fantastic nods to past history. The guillotine legdrop fails, the rolling guillotine legdrop fails, and so Bull goes for the desperation moonsault once again--but this time it misses. Nakano is able to withstand the series of urakens that had put her down previously, so Aja trumps THAT by busting out a guillotine legdrop of her own. Fantastic finish and an even better post-match scene. I admit it didn't really pack the emotional gut punch for me personally that something more familiar like Savage & Elizabeth at WM7 did, but the sense of impact and change was still palpable. Now I have to decide between this or the previous match as joshi MOTY, and there's another big match on this card to go!

[WingedEagle]

This was awesome. How awesome? Will save that for a minute. They open with some bombs -- Bull with her lariats, Aja some strikes and headbutts. Then its worked very slowly, each respecting the other and methodically looking to wear her opponent down rather than go for a quick kill that surely won't work. After a quick foray into the stands Aja gets the near falls rolling with a piledrover and 2 backdrop suplexes. That doesn't work so she brings things outside and throws a row of connected chairs onto Bull. Bull misses the flying legdrop as they start breaking out the bombs. The one spot I didn't love was Bull's sloppy jump kick off. Just not in her wheelhouse. After a plancha that takes out a ring girl, Bull hits a legdrop and then the somersault legdrop but that's only good for 2. She then misses the moonsault and its clear we're getting a new king. Aja can taste it but has taken a ridiculous beating at this point. A German only gets two as they're both selling the bombs to this point. Three Urakens later we get a near fall that I was sure was the finish. But Aja busts out her own guillotine legdrop to win the title.

 

Nakano sells it like a boss afterwards, and I'll be damned if she doesn't come across here as one of the most sympathetic babyfaces you'll find. Both are crying while Bull's on the mic, then they hug, and it is awesome. You don't even know what they're saying and you're near tears. Aja bows to her, and Bison joins. I can't appreciate this anywhere near the level I should as I've never gone through the years leading up to this in depth, and its still arguably the best moment on the yearbook thus far. You can say this match ended when the bell rang, but combining the match and the post-match this definitely trumps the main event and is my favorite match of the night, and one of the tops on the year.

 

****1/2

[garretta]

What struck me about this match was how respectfully it was worked. These two are no longer mortal enemies trying to cripple each other as they were in 1990; this is about the title and only the title. We get two short outside-the-ring sequences, but no trashcans and no real rulebreaking to speak of, just the slow realization by both Bull and the audience that what's worked before in terms of moves won't work now. Aja's ready to take her place as queen, and no one, not even Bull, can stop her.

 

The postmatch stood out for me even more than the match itself did. I don't speak Japanese, so these two could have been reciting nursery rhymes to each other for all I knew. It's the emotion that stood out for me, much like in the Toyota-Yamada hair match. Aja and Bull have had their wars, beaten each other bloody more times than they can count, and Aja's won. Bull knows this and accepts it like the champion she's been, and now all both of them want is for their friendship to be repaired. It was a truly touching scene, and I've never seen anything like it in all my years of watching American wrestling.

 

We've gotten a few handshakes after matches like this, maybe a hug occasionally, but not two exhausted warriors embracing in the middle of the ring and declaring their love and respect for each other. It just doesn't fit our perception as a nation of what pro wrestling is supposed to be, and most of the characters we see simply aren't capable of it, even when it might have been warranted. To cite just one example, if Andre had decided to retire after Mania III, I can't imagine Vince allowing Hogan to show emotion like this toward him. Immortals simply don't shed tears for mortals, period.

 

I've seen better bell-to-bell matches between these two, but the postmatch raises this to a Match of the Year candidate for me. I'd definitely put it in the top five.

[SmartMark15]

This was pretty fun! I enjoyed pretty much all the action and I liked that it slowed down and got down on the mat. Aja selling the knee when coming back into the ring is forgotten a little later on but this is joshi so I'm willing to forgive it. Enjoyed all the little touches like Bull struggling to lock in a camel clutch or even her tossing Aja's trash can off the apron as she's climbing the turnbuckle. Loved the finishing stretch. Those leg drops were sick and seeing Aja pull one out to end it made for a great impact. The walk and brawl did seem a tad tedious to me so there's that. I have a feeling this would be rated higher for me given some context so I'll be sure to revisit this some time in the future.

 

****