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angel

@grappleholics.bsky.social

27 followers 24 following 73 posts

pro resslin conisewr and dyslexic

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angel

@grappleholics.bsky.social

4 games I'd give 10/10

May 16, 2025 at 6:34 AM

angel

@grappleholics.bsky.social

I saw Bryan Danielson vs Jon Moxley

April 22, 2025 at 6:53 AM

angel

@grappleholics.bsky.social

big roh marks

April 13, 2025 at 9:25 AM

angel

@grappleholics.bsky.social

One step closer

Jesus Christ, no one is gonna watch something this long.

January 21, 2025 at 7:39 AM

angel

@grappleholics.bsky.social

Aja Kong vs. Akira Hokuto 03.17.91

Two of the most important women in the history of Japanese Wrestling meet one on one for the first time, and they don't let up. Aja Kong came to the realization that so many white men do and decided to make her baldness everyone else's problem, and Hokuto happened to be tonight's victim.

This match shares a spiritual familiarity to a lot of Aja's later classics being characterized by its shorter runtime and high concentration of cool shit. Aja feels like this horrendous force, and from the outset, it feels like today is just Hokuto's unlucky day with her being on the receiving end of most of the early offense and trash cans. Hokuto is able to use Aja's unstable rage in the aftermath of her losing her hair to her advantage, with Aja perhaps overzealously going for a top rope cross body on the outside only to meet a few AJW cornerwomen and tranies. Hokuto in tern uses the chaos created by this moment to get into the ring and successfully land her signature front senton on Kong to turn the tides. The highlight of Hokuto's offense comes in with a particular gnarly looking Northen Lights Bomb on Kong's head that Kong only barley escapes. From there, the bombs flow like wine.

Aja lays in more the a hearty serving of pikedrivers, both standard, bottom rope, and their package varient. Hokuto battles on bravely for a while, but you can only survive for so long. In the end, it feels like death by a thousand cuts, with each backfist and headrop being what finishes Hokuto as much as the big final splash from the top. There's something almost tragic to the way Hokuto tries to bridge out, but her body just crumples. Her spirit never died, but her body certainly did fall victim to the women they call Aja Kong

Top 100? No, the two have more in them, the post match makes that clear enough even in the immediate. There are a lot of better brutal Aja sprints. This one, though, is definitely worth a watch if you're a fun of that sub-genre.

Where then? Not quite sure. It might be my favorite match of Aja's 91 so far just for the simplicity of it, but the hair match is hard to go against. Definitely feels in that same realm.

My Therapist: Bald Flying Aja Kong isn't real it can't hurt you.
Bald Flying Aja Kong:

January 7, 2025 at 7:12 AM

angel

@grappleholics.bsky.social

Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue 01.11.91

A time-honored tradition in Lucha and Joshi is the hair vs. hair match. In Lucha Libre the identity of a wrestler, be it their mask or hair or career, even holds such a heavy weight that the occasion is held only for the most special of venues or for the most bloody of feuds. Much is the case in Joshi, with a woman's hair having heavy connotations with female beauty standards layered on top of the intrinsic identity wrestlers like Aja Kong and Bull Nakano have tied with their hair. The feud fits the build, with Aja already warring with Bull since the summer, and though the year has changed, the tensions have not.

Kyoko is a new addition to this feud, though. With her only debuting about seven months prior. She has already been recruited by the WWWA world champion to enlist in her war against Jungle Jack. The hatred flows freely in this match. Less structured and paced as the last two Jungle Jack matches we've seen. This means the match tends to lean more towards brawling and weaponry, mostly directed between Jungle Jack and Bull. Inoue mostly feels like a victim of circumstance, with her only being choked out with a chain and bludgeoned when Bull isn't in immediate grabbing distance.

The main motif of the match, though, is the scissors, introduced early by Bull. A large portion of the match revolves around the two teams trying to cut/stab their opposition with the pair in part. 249 of "Joshi Doing Every Cool Thing Wrestlers Do Now 30 Years Ago" (Watch and learn Trev). This, as you would expect, gets the juice rolling, especially down Bull and Aja's face in a grotesque circus of violence that only continues to escalate.

It's a pair of Alabama Jams that Bull is able to land on Bison with Kyoko's assistance that secure them the victory but much like most apuestas, it's the aftermath that you leave remembering the most. Aja, defiantly awaiting her fate, staring daggers into the camera, into the viewer even as she loses her iconic mohawk. It's Bison, though, that hits harder, having to be helped up and in tears. You can even hear the crowd audibly shriek as she meets the razor's edge, sweat and tears keeping wayward chunks of hair clung to her face. There is no peace made amongst enemies though, only scores to settle and wrongs to be righted.

Is it in my top 100? I don't think it is, but I adore it nonetheless. Blood and hate filled tag matches feel harder to come by these days.

Where then? It's not as iconic as the cage match or the first Jungle-Jack/Bull tag. Its emotion, though, is sustained, and the Bull/Kyoko dynamic is an interesting one to see play out. Maybe top 300 or 250. It's the post-match that does the most for me.

POV: You're looking at the best bald wrestlers who want to stab people with scissors.

January 6, 2025 at 8:02 PM

angel

@grappleholics.bsky.social

Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Manami Toyota & Suzuka Minami 01.04.91

Jungle Jack back at it again, this time on the same days as New Japan's traditional Tokoyo Dome show. This match, however, is brought to us on Kaureken Hall, AJW's first show of 1991. Here, we see the first of what I understand to be many of meetings with Minami Toyota in this project as she teams with Suzuka Minami.

It's a fun tag, brief but lacking in excess. It's clear Toyota is still pretty fresh here with her move of choice being a front missile dropkick she spams repeatedly, in her defense when they do land they look pretty sweet. The highlight for me here, though, is some particularly gross handwork Suzuka gets in on Bison, repeatedly dragging her arms to the ground in a herculean struggle before stepping and stomping on them. The resistance, and struggle here makes it, aswell as the horrific screams on Kimura's part, it's a spot that's as common place as it is soulless now a days so it's nice to see it pulled off right.

The finish comes pretty suddenly as did most of the match, this wasn't much beyond an excuse to dump Minami Toyota on her head a few times but the women still showed some fun handwork within it, trying to neutralize Bison's chop. A fun match, not worth going out of your way for, but a very fun way to pass 10 minutes.

Is it in my top 100? No

Where then? I honestly don't know, it gets lost in a sea of inoffensive and occasionally fun tags.

December 19, 2024 at 10:11 AM

angel

@grappleholics.bsky.social

Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Manami Toyota & Suzuka Minami 01.04.91

dope

December 19, 2024 at 9:50 AM

angel

@grappleholics.bsky.social

Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Manami Toyota & Suzuka Minami 01.04.91

A bad night to be Manami Toyota's neck.

December 19, 2024 at 9:49 AM

angel

@grappleholics.bsky.social

Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Manami Toyota & Suzuka Minami 01.04.91

Damn bro, u really gonna steal Steen's shit like that?

December 19, 2024 at 9:46 AM

angel

@grappleholics.bsky.social

Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Manami Toyota & Suzuka Minami 01.04.91

Finger perverts of today, watch and learn.

December 19, 2024 at 9:45 AM

angel

@grappleholics.bsky.social

Aja Kong vs. Bull Nakano 11.14.90

I think I might enjoy the build-up tag more? That's not to say this was anywhere near bad though. This is a deeply violent performance, which is just the thing one would expect from these two. I deeply enjoy how loose and free form the violence feels here, almost as if the two are taking suggestions from the crowd like an improve show as their respective seconds toss a cavalcade of weaponry over or through the cage.

They build up to the finish well too, with Bull attempting a myriad of schemes to both show of her knot tying capabilities and escape the cage but is constantly getting cut off by Aja, making something bigger and dangerous feel inevitable. The disgusting leg drop being that move that was just insane enough to keep Kong down long enough for Bull to flee.

*like a prayer by madona starts playing*

December 17, 2024 at 11:50 AM

angel

@grappleholics.bsky.social

Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Bull Nakano & Grizzly Iwamoto 08.19.90

The BlueSky character limmit could not contain my thoughts. Here are a lot of words instead.

Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Bull Nakano & Grizzly Iwamoto 08.19.90

Whilst Aja debuted in 1986, it isn't really until the turn of the decade where she does anything of note. A month prior, she had a big boxing match with Madusa, but here is the first time I saw something I could really sink my teeth into. Aja Kong and Bison Kimura, who form the team "Jungle Jack," take on Bull Nakano and in her second to last match Grizzly Iwamoto. On the surface this was clearly just meant to be a build up tag for the big Aja Bull cagematch happening soon, with both women's cohorts taking the place as their seconds to give space between the big Aja Bull interactions. In practice, however, this is magical. One of those instances where you can see a moment happening in real time, where stars are solidified and greats turn into Gods in front of your very eyes

One of the biggest points of interest for me here too was Bison Kimura. I've seen her wrestle here and there, maybe on the first Dream Slam card and not many other times. Here though, she takes my breath away. A true grit and willingness to take damage that wouldn't feel as commonplace for another near decade. Her defiance in the face of Bull Nakano is something to marvel at, and her pure spite towards Grizzly is at points disgusting. Fighting tooth and nail against the awesome force that is Bull Nakano only to absolutely bully and hurt her equal in Grizzly whenever they share the ring with no hint of irony. In her defense, though, the feeling seems to be mutual.

If you know this match though, you probably know it by THE spot. A spot I've only heard referenced before, and had never even seen clips of. As the match starts its second act, it's Grizzly that introduces the Singapore Cane, or Kendo Stick to the scene. It's not until Aja Kong wrestles it out of her hands though, that we truly see something gnarly. Starting off by dual wielding before sharing the fun with a friend, Aja Kong and Bison Kimura go to town on Bull turning her into a human piñata, desperate to break open her delicious innards only for Bull to stand there. And as the camera pans out, we see how hard the two are hitting her. It almost looks like one shot dislocates her shoulder. Nakano neglects to even flinch. Somehow, from there they still manage to find a new peak, with Aja taking her turn on the receiving end only to body block Bull to the rapturous ovation of the crowd. As Aja screams and pounds her chest, you can't help but see a prospect become The Next Guy.

December 17, 2024 at 11:29 AM

angel

@grappleholics.bsky.social

As I look more into Aja Kong and specifically her GWE case for me personally, I thought I'd start a thread of her matches I'm watching and how I feel about them. Starting chronologically in 1990 and working my way up. Who says you need to wait for the new year to try new things.