Apparently this went to a 30-minute draw. It really says something about how good the AJW editors were because I could not have told you where they shaved 10 minutes from. Either way, as far as Aja Kong v Manami Toyota goes this had all of the good stuff you might associate with that match-up. It largely followed the same formula as their 11/94 match, with Aja trying to bend or break or sometimes bend AND break Toyota while Toyota refused to succumb to either. Toyota was actually even more belligerent in '97 than she was in '94 so now and then she'd just shout something that I couldn't understand and start hitting Aja in the face. At one point she broke out of a rear naked choke and literally double stomped Aja full in the mouth. I'm obviously picky about the Toyota that I watch, but I've been on a roll with her lately and I thought she was pretty excellent again here. You knew she'd burst into life at points and hit some suplexes or dives, and she did that and those suplexes looked nasty and the dives were every bit as reckless as they needed to be if they were going to topple Aja. Her missile dropkick to the floor is a fucking absurd thing and how she never crippled herself in all those years is beyond me. But the selling in between is really good as well, not just in how she's selling the submissions as she's in them or how she's bumping for Aja's offence; I mean the parts before she gets up and runs the ropes or jumps off of something. She'd take a little stagger, delay those bursts just a couple seconds longer than she would've years before, and something as simple as that really puts across the scope of what she's trying to overcome. Those delays set up some great cut-offs as well, like when she went for a big dive to the floor and wiped out one of the ring girls, which Aja followed up with a PLUMP tope that clattered Toyota and the same poor ring girl. I even liked the big table spot because it felt like Toyota needed to up the ante or she'd just get smooshed before long. Also it looked brutal so that helps. The finish is something I could've gone either way on, but in the end I think I liked it. Toyota was dead on her feet, but she'd keep kicking out until she was dead on her arse. Aja hit her with three hideous urakens and Toyota wouldn't stay down. It was a small thing, but I loved how one of Toyota's kick-outs was a bridge accompanied with no screaming. There was none of her usual defiance, it was pure instinct in that moment. Aja giving her a bare-handed fourth looked like it must've shattered Toyota's whole face, but by then Aja had literally punched herself into exhaustion and just as she makes the cover the bell rings. Even if Toyota never won, she at least survived and somehow that felt closer to a victory than defeat. This was good stuff.
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