Revisiting 90s Joshi #48

Akira Hokuto v Manami Toyota (AJW, 8/21/93)

This was really good. It had some similarities to the '95 match, with Hokuto working super aggressive in the opening stretch while Toyota would often need to use bursts of offence whenever a ring rope was within touching distance. Early on Toyota gets hung up in the ropes with her leg caught and Hokuto just about bends her in half. She showed zero remorse then or at any point in the match and a couple times that manifested in her taking the mount position and slapping Toyota about the head. The real hook here was Toyota going after Hokuto's knee. Everyone knew Hokuto's knee was a bullseye anyway, but I like how there was an element of payback from Toyota after that spill into the ropes earlier. She even hung Hokuto up in the same tree of woe later and started punching at the kneecap. Some of Toyota's submissions weren't the least bit slick but they all looked mean, and once or twice it meant just grabbing Hokuto's leg and twisting it at ugly angles. I thought Hokuto's selling was great. You expect it to be when Toyota is actively working it over, but even after Toyota stopped properly targeting it Hokuto never let you forget she was pain (I mean, she almost certainly was for real). It wasn't in your face like Randy Savage hobbling around on one leg, it was much more understated, but she's exceptional at emoting and projecting and even a slight limp here and there was enough to do it. We can argue until we're blue in the face about which method is best, or if aiming for "realism" in pro wrestling is even the way to go or whatever, but I thought it was incredibly realistic and about as close to a real sport injury as you could get within the fake nonsense world that we choose to immerse ourselves in. On the flipside of that, Toyota getting stuffed on her head twice on the floor with sick piledrivers and brushing it off completely was a wee bit...questionable? Like I get that piledrivers in Japan are not piledrivers in America or Mexico, but this felt egregious even with that in mind. Still, it didn't kill the match for me or anything, maybe because this is about as high on Toyota as I've been in 15 years. Or ever, probably. I was into the finishing run and a couple of those nearfalls were molten. I can see why folk would go to bat for Hokuto being the best in the world that year. There are some people I prefer for stylistic reasons, but she really was exceptional.