Forever Forward Fridays

Viper VS Aja Kong - Pro-Wrestling: EVE Wrestle Queendom 5/5/2018

CJD: Let's be honest about a few things here. This crowd is there to witness Aja Kong live more than they are to see a great Aja Kong match. And I'm picking this match to play forward to you as much because it's the perfect end to our Joshi Journey that started back in April with the match that happened right before this one on this very show, Meiko Satomura VS Kay Lee Ray. Now whether or not this will be the end of our epic 2021 journey, you will have to decide! Because Viper had a pretty storied career in Japan as well as far as I understand.

Now I will say, this match is really solid despite Aja's limitations. Piper/Viper approaches it with all the respect in the world and makes Kong look fantastic. They get a lot out of not doing too much, which is key to aging gracefully as a performer. In some ways this match reminded me of a match we played forward years back, Sabu VS Arik Cannon, and similarly to when I finished watching that one, I was really satisfied by what these two excellent pro wrestlers did in the ring. Regardless of nostalgia or the respect being paid, I thought this was a good match. Night and day from the madness you brought to me last week, and certainly a far cry from prime Aja Kong. But sometimes something simple and satisfying is all you need.

JJZ: So when I got halfway through this match I'm thinking to myself, how the hell am I not going to sound negative with my comments about this one. Then about the 8 minute mark, these women, fueled by a white hot crowd, really hit their stride. This wasn't groundbreaking or anything. It was just moves being executed well and the crowd popping like crazy for it. You are dead ass right. These people were there to see Aja Kong and they wanted her to know it. These tribute style matches usually underdeliver for me because you're hoping for a glimmer of what the elder wrestler use to be. But like this crowd I was very happy to see Aja's hits and Niven did a really good job selling for them. Nice pick mi amigo.

Forever Forward Fridays

Aja Kong/Kyoko Inoue VS LCO - AJW 8/9/1997

JJZ: Not gonna lie. I'm playing this forward mostly because I'm dying to hear your thoughts. One word can not describe this match so I'll use the following. Violent, crazy, annoying, stiff, heated, long, jaw-dropping. I mean there were times I was like what the fuck is happening why isn't this over. Then I was like holy shit. I could watch this all day! I think at least 7 times I said that should've been the finish, but then I loved the actual finish. I dunno man. Shit was crazy as fuck.

CJD: Well that was the damndest match I've seen in a while. I know LCO were built up as a monster team and they had to be to go to war with a mega power duo like Kong and Inoue like this. I will say I felt like Kong was kind of approaching this match with kids gloves for how personal and nasty it felt for the first half. Babyface Aja is not my favorite Aja. But then she busts out that fire extinguisher (which the commentators sell wonderfully!) and from that point on she's got her special up as our old friend Tommy B would say. I agree completely that this match felt like it hit its peak a few times over and kept going and going, but somehow it always got its heat back. And the actual finish was fucking beautiful. This was something else, at some point you're either just along for the ride or you're not. And I definitely was!

You Say Chutoro, I Say Otoro, Let's Play The Whole Thing Forward

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x37bhs8

Aja Kong/Jun Kasai/Minoru Suzuki VS Mitsuhisa Sunabe/Ryuji Ito/Yumi - Oz Academy 8/23/2015

CJD: Usually a match being joined in progress is a violation for me. But sometimes playing it forward isn't about the match you want, it's about the match you need. And I'm on the tail end of two months of hellacious overnight shifts and this match put a smile on my face for every minute of what we got to see of it. I never knew I needed a trios team of Suzuki, Kong, and Kasai so badly, but they are god damn great together. I bet you didn't see this coming in response to two weeks of brutal deathmatches!

JJZ: To paint a little picture while I'm watching this match. I'm smoking a cigar and have had about 3... 3 1/3 drinks. Now Chris, you are my best friend. Behind my wife and my kids your opinion matters more than anyone else's in this world. So I take no joy in saying this, but this match sucked. This was a shitty RAW main event. It told no story, had not real big spots and it felt like all the wrestlers just kinda checked out by doing the most basic shit they have. Love you baby but no bueno mi amigo.

CJD: I'm going to call bullshit. There has never been a RAW intergender main event with personalities as big and diverse as Suzuki, Kong, and Kasai. That would be like Foley, Shamrock, and I don't know, Lita? In a main event together. Never happened! I get what you're trying to say, that they rely on their personalities to pop the crowd more than they do "stuff" in this match. But that's pro wrestling baby. All three of them have sacrificed enough that they've absolutely earned it. How many comedy matches have a grand story? Chris Candido has a towel in his ass and doesn't realize it for 15 minutes is like the Hamlet of comedy matches. I think you forgot your fourth drink of the night, which was a shaker pint of Haterade filled right to the brim!

JJZ: Comedy match? I didn't laugh once. I didn't even think it was a comedy match. And how dare you talk anything but positive of the greatest comedy match of all time. In all seriousness, yes they have earned the right to kinda take a night off in the ring but the greats usually don't. Did the match actually suck? Not as a standard wrestling match but as a match with those legends in it, it is disappointing. Usually when I'm drinking, smoking, and watching some rasslin' I'm loving everything put in front of me. Maybe it just wasn't what I was in the mood for, or maybe my expectations were too high. But I'll ask you this, if you were trying to introduce any of those wrestlers to someone would you pick this match?

CJD: Definitely not. Like I said, it's a match built on their well deserved reputations. As long time fans of all 3 I find that rewarding without needing it to be a good starting point for others.

JJZ: I guess looking at it from your point I was buying supermarket sushi and expecting 5 star restaurant taste.

CJD: I have supermarket sushi in the fridge right now! It's going to be delicious for dinner at work tonight!

JJZ: Haha. Got some spicy tuna?

CJD: Nah just veggie rolls, I knew it'd be a few days before I got to it.