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[1993-07-31-JWP-Thunderqueen] Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa & Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs Hikari Fukuoka & Cutie Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki & Dynamite Kansai (60-Minute Marathon Match)


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A lot of stuff going on for sure. I thought the opening matwork was the worst portion with the fluke pin. In watching, I didn't get the sense that Cutie was as much the clear weak link of her team compared to Kyoko getting beat at most junctures when she was paired up with Ozaki. Kong vs. Kansai were both the monsters on their team they needed to be and this certainly had a high pace of action that made the 60 minutes slide right by with memorable moments like the bum rush save and the spinning back fist from Aja. The triumphant final pin felt fitting to me and appropriate given the layout of the match. A really great match and a low end MOTYC for me but not one of the best matches I have ever seen. ****1/2

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  • 6 months later...

The first pinfall was pretty bad. JWP working from underneath down 2-1 was really good. I liked the setup for Kansai's powerbomb but thought that with that kind of build it would have been the deciding fall not the one to tie. Ozaki did seem like the one taking the beating early on and had to steadily come back as the match went on. Once the heat was over it became a big mess of bombs for nearfalls to pop the crowd, but again they did have the teases for Kansai's powerbomb. Loved Aja as the 1A and Kansai as the 1B in this match. Takako was a surprise, and did well as the victim for the heel in peril segment. She seemed right behind Kansai in terms of where she stood in the match as it progressed. Finish was good, but I think if Ozaki had tied it up for JWP and Kansai had fought off the second uraken to put it away with a powerbomb it works better.

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  • 3 months later...

I've got no beef with Thunder Queen. It's an hour long Joshi match so it's hardly going to be perfect (without putting an understatement on it), but I still enjoyed the twists and turns, and I thought Kansai and Kyoko put in tremendous performances. Aja was also strong in her role. The riffs I used to enjoy most (Ozaki and Takako) kind of paled in comparison to Kansai and Kyoko, but I'm on a Kansai binge watch and was thinking ahead to the August clash with Kong, and I keep on thinking Kyoko got hard done by on the GWE list. So a bit of a same place, different time feel to it 15 years on from when I first watched it. That's as good a proof as any that there's plenty going on in the match w/ all sorts of different subplots. I don't really care about its place in the pantheon of great matches anymore. It held up for me.

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  • 7 months later...

First fall: ​I had no idea that this would come in the very first period. It looked like a standard weardown period similar to what you'd find in WarGames, with Sakie doing some preliminary work on Hikari's leg. All of a sudden, Hikari grabs a small package out of nowhere for three, and Team Dynamite's up 1-0.

 

Since this period goes to five minutes no matter what, Sakie and Hikari start the next fall as well.

 

​Second fall: ​I can't begin to describe all of the action over two periods plus, so I'll just say that I liked the fact that everyone seemed to be going for falls quickly. In a setup like this, it would have been too easy to just lay around and wait for everybody to be eligible so the real ​action could start.

 

I liked the Kyoko-Ozaki matchup a bit better than Cutie-Takako, mostly because Kyoko did damage to Ozaki's back that could factor into the match later. Cutie-Takako had more nearfalls, but it shouldn't mean as much in the grand scheme of things moving forward.

 

It's up to Aja to even things for her side, and she does about a minute into her period with Dynamite by blasting her with a backfist. She lets the referee count the knockout on Dynamite (which we rarely see in wrestling these days) and we're even at a fall apiece.

 

Third fall: ​Kudos to Dynamite for taking so many bumps on the back of her head in so short a time. I saw her eyes at least once, and she seemed legitimately stunned, almost concussed.

 

The minute everyone can get legally involved, the whole thing breaks down completely. Out of this mess, Aja and Cutie end up legal, and Aja squashes Cutie with an elbowdrop to put her side up 2-1.

 

Three falls and the trashcan hasn't come into play yet. This has to be some sort of record for Aja,

 

Fourth fall: ​This fall was a match in itself, almost half an hour by my unofficial count. It got hard to follow, especially since at times there was as much action going on outside the ring as there was in it.

 

Almost everyone except Aja and Dynamite absorbed quite a beating. I must have missed how Kyoko got busted open, but it really didn't affect her much, which is a major problem I have with joshi. They have to cram so many highspots into their matches that there's no sense of anyone really being hurt. It's almost like these girls are windup dolls out there who feel nothing. Combine that with a moveset that at times seems to be all powerbombs and suplexes and you get matches that feel twice as long as they really are, which in this particular case makes a confusing mess. Greatest match ever? Not in my top thousand.

 

This was so long and confusing that I can't remember off the top of my head who pinned who. All I know is that we're tied at two falls apiece with less than ten minutes left. Please, God, get me through this.

 

Fifth fall: ​Almost every offensive move in this fall was a suplex of some sort. I'm fairly sure that Mayumi gets the winning fall on Takako with five seconds left, but in all honesty, I checked out on this emotionally about the forty-minute mark. I think I'm officially over the thrill of seeing women who can actually execute wrestling moves. Give me some good old-fashioned Moolah choking and hair mares.

 

Does anyone know why they had to carry Takako out piggyback? These girls sell so little that I can't remember her even being severely winded during the match, much less hurt.

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  • 2 months later...

Fourth fall: ​This fall was a match in itself, almost half an hour by my unofficial count. It got hard to follow, especially since at times there was as much action going on outside the ring as there was in it.

 

Almost everyone except Aja and Dynamite absorbed quite a beating. I must have missed how Kyoko got busted open, but it really didn't affect her much, which is a major problem I have with joshi. They have to cram so many highspots into their matches that there's no sense of anyone really being hurt. It's almost like these girls are windup dolls out there who feel nothing. Combine that with a moveset that at times seems to be all powerbombs and suplexes and you get matches that feel twice as long as they really are, which in this particular case makes a confusing mess. Greatest match ever? Not in my top thousand.

She and Oz bonked heads when Aja broke up a pin attempt. ISTR Oz had a bad bruise on her head the rest of the way as well.

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  • 2 months later...

Whoa, what a crazy whirlwind! Finally saw this in full for the first time today and it was just a lot of fun! Sure, it has your trademark joshi sloppiness and awkwardness but it also has the blistering fast action and crazy pace. Aja Kong is a force of nature and Dynamite Kansai is just the bomb. Like seriously, Kansai is great. Loved how Aja knocks her lights out as soon as they step into the ring together. No real long term selling here but I've come to expect that from joshi. I just let myself enjoy the ride and when you do that, it's really great stuff. I actually think that the strongest point of the match is the stipulation itself. It lends itself perfectly to the go-go-go-GO joshi style and it lends weight to nearly every nearfall.

 

****3/4

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  • GSR changed the title to [1993-07-31-JWP-Thunderqueen] Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa & Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs Hikari Fukuoka & Cutie Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki & Dynamite Kansai (60-Minute Marathon Match)
  • 3 years later...

I love the rules of this match. This is an ironman match, but the first twenty minutes consisted of four single mini-matches that allowed each team the opportunity to score some victories without having to worry about members of the opposing team breaking things up. This is wrestled under the JWP banner, so the AJW crew acts like total assholes by breaking up pins and just being awful in general. I don't think I've seen a match that makes wrestling feel like a legitimate team sport more than this match.Dynamite Kansai might be the only member of the JWP team who can stand toe-to-toe with Aja Kong and Kyoko Inoue, but the rest of the members stand a fighting chance if they are able to work together. Speaking of Kansai, this match was at its peak whenever she and Kong were bringing the hate. Every near-fall had urgency and the final few seconds of this match which saw Ozaki trying to get a fall and win the match for her team made for some compelling viewing. I'm usually someone who's quite critical of joshi, but I thought this was marvelous! ★★★★¾

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