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I’ve seen a fair bit of stuff. I haven’t gone back for a while, so my appreciation is probably going to be deeper. I’ve never really engaged with the “story” of it all as much as I could either.
I started with Manami Toyota vs. Akita Hokuto - September 2, 1995 (The Destiny Climax). I found a good write-up on it too. Hokuto was known for plowing through some insane injuries. She broke her neck off a second-rope Tombstone and continued the match essentially holding her head in place. Toyota always fascinates me to watch because she’s such a pure babyface (to me), but she’s got this scrappy, desperate viciousness and this edge to her that you don’t see from everyone else. Sometimes I can kind of see it in Hiroshi Tanahashi, actually.
This is the match where the gif of Toyota doing the springboard crossbody came from. She’s fucking sublime. Watching this (possibly again), it’s pretty obvious this is what Okada vs. Omega wants to be. Now, I’m judging that off the first match in their series, and I liked that match enough even as someone who doesn’t like Omega.
Toyota and Hokuto actually do wrestle each with their own “strategy.” It isn’t psychology like you would traditionally see in the West, but I can grab onto it way more now than I may have a decade ago. They’re telling this story that Hokuto is better hold-for-hold. Every exchange (at least where I got to before I got interrupted), sees Hokuto getting the better of Toyota. So then what Toyota does is pick up the speed, run really fast, and KICKS HOKUTO IN THE FUCKING FACE!!! Time after time. She’s kind of being an annoying little shit about it. But she’s even got a table out at this point (which may have happened all the time in AJW for all I know), which also makes me think to the first Omega/Okada match.
As I said, I got interrupted. So I’m nor giving a full review here, but I’ll go back and finish it now. Talking about it actually gets me excited for it.
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