Revisiting 90s Joshi #40

Akira Hokuto v Suzuka Minami (AJW, 4/29/91)

Stylistically I feel like I should've enjoyed this more than I did. It's not that I actively DIDN'T enjoy it, I just wasn't really engaged and even when they were doing things I'd usually be into I was sort of drifting in and out. The early parts were built around grappling and it was some of the more rugged grappling you'll see from this period of AJW, or even joshi in general. They slowed the pace down and kept it grounded, rarely taking it back to the feet so they could run the ropes or trade dropkicks and snapmares. I didn't find it all that compelling, but if it had gone the more back-and-forth route then I'd have found it even less compelling so...there's some valuable information for you all to do with as you wish. Minami has a great tilt-a-whirl backbreaker if you would like some more valuable information. Eventually Minami goes after Hokuto's leg and they started to win me over, even if some of what she did looked a little goofy. The part where she laid Hokuto's leg out flat and climbed the turnbuckles to hit a splash on it was a neat enough idea, but the setup was weird so Hokuto had to lie there and watch it happen rather than just, like, move out the way. Then again pro wrestling is stupid as fuck so maybe it's a hollow complaint. I liked how Hokuto would slow things all the way down to a crawl just to sell the damage, at one point hobbling around on the floor as the ref' put the count on, not getting back in the ring until that split second before 20. When she fought back and mounted some proper offence she kept drawing attention to the leg, like when she'd hit some suplexes but wouldn't be able to hold the bridge attempts. The selling was just right; understated enough that you bought her thinking the next time she tried it she'd pull it off, not going overboard as if she'd been shot in the calf leaving you questioning the wisdom of returning to that well. Then again pro wrestling is stupid as fuck so maybe that would've been another hollow complaint. Really liked the finish, which strangely reminded me of the finish to Warrior/Savage from that year's Wrestlemania. Maybe it was the decisiveness of it, the way it was emphatic while still sort of catching me by surprise. Like Warrior hitting the repeated shoulder tackles, Hokuto hit three missile dropkicks and a cannonball senton, all from different corners of the ring. Like Savage after those tackles, Minami was pretty much done. Hokuto put the exclamation point on it with the head drop while Warrior never needed to, but even still there was a brief moment of "wait, they're not getting back up here, are they?" And they do not get back up. Maybe if Hokuto had pinned Minami with one foot on the chest and walked away with a sleeveless tie dye jacket that had both of their faces on it this would've also been eleven stars. But then if my granny had wheels she would've been a bike. Alas.