On its 30th anniversary, we reflect on a merciless bout that never wavers in its commitment to violence.

Stephen

Seeing as this site is named what it is, myself and Ethan, better known as Four Pillars of Hell, thought it was only right to touch on one of the matches that perfectly defines the type of wrestling that Jay & Mark Briscoe described in that legendary promo: Aja Kong vs. Yumiko Hotta from AJW’s Ota Ward Champion Legend show on January 24th, 1994.

The tone is set for this match before the two women even hit the ring.

In her pre-match interview, Aja Kong is dismissive of her opponent, treating her like an insect that’s beneath her. She says she doesn’t care about putting on a “great match”, and from her disposition, it appears like she doesn’t particularly care about anything.

Yumiko Hotta’s interview, by contrast, is more respectful, if a little generic. She expresses her desire to win Aja’s red belt, which would make it her first singles championship in her career. This gives us the proper context to understand this match on the surface; a dismissive, disrespectful champion in Kong vs. an upstart challenger looking to make a name for herself in Hotta. Simple, easy-to-understand pro wrestling.

This match is so much more than that.

Calling this a match at all feels like lying to you, honestly. Maybe not to the extent that a Hokuto/Kandori or a Necro/Joe do, but certainly in the same ballpark.

No, what this is is a goddamn MAULING by one of the best to ever do it.

Aja Kong dominates the majority of this match. This is a Good Thing, as she is one of the best monster heels the game has ever seen, and will ever see. The way she just blitzes Hotta at the outset, raining down strikes on her face before unloading a mean uraken backfist immediately informs you how this match is about to go in similar fashion to a linebacker spearing a running back into the dirt on the first play of a football game. Aja unloads stiff kicks to a downed Hotta with seemingly zero regard for her well-being, as if the champion is irritated by the mere state of Hotta’s existence.

The contempt that Kong feels for Hotta, and perhaps the entire world, is on full display when she damn near kills her with a piledriver directly onto a table on the outside, followed by hurling a chair straight at her face with a level of malice usually reserved for your worst enemies.

I’ve talked about Aja a lot here, but this certainly isn’t a one-woman showing. Hotta sells all this damage well, and brings the fight right back to the champion when she needs to. The way she fires up and eats Aja’s strikes makes it easy for you to root for her as the babyface here. And then, my God, the way she full force kicks Aja’s face in, the way you hear the thud as her boot connects with skin, is some shit that even Daisuke Ikeda would shiver at. One kick in particular to a downed Kong looks near identical to what Katsuyori Shibata would unleash on Jun Akiyama in the first minute of their match, 11 years later.

At some point in this, Hotta’s hand starts bleeding.

I’ve tried to find what causes it, or where exactly it happens, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. What does matter is the visual of it. The thing looks absolutely gruesome, and it smears on absolutely everything: Hotta’s face, Aja’s face, the mat, Aja’s arm. It’s hard to look at, yet at the same time hard to get out of your head, and that’s before Aja works on it.

Goddamn, does Aja work on it.

This is, in my eyes, the single best limb targeting performance in wrestling history.

It’s the reason you’re reading this right now.

Once Aja sees her opportunity, she’s an absolute shark. She stomps on the hand, leaving Hotta vulnerable for a straight-up evil kick to the face. Later on, she stomps at the hand again and then WRENCHES Hotta’s bloody fingers back like some kind of sadist, and then PUNCHES it for good measure. The work is gruesome, inspired, and ridiculously violent. Aja even toys with Hotta, taunting her downed opponent on the mic as she gets her hand taped up and then baiting her into a greco-roman knuckle lock-up, which she uses to find a way to yet again stomp at the maimed member.

The key to all of this is, the reason that it feels so impactful, is that Aja doesn’t NEED to do this; she’s better than Hotta, she’s shown in excruciating detail all the ways that she’s better than Hotta throughout the match, and all of this is simply proving a point: do not fuck with me, period. The way she smirks devilishly after kicking the limb with reckless abandon is proof enough of this; she even tries to incorporate the hurt hand into a pin attempt, simply to fuck with her pissant opponent. It’s all just so…petty, and it’s the heart of what makes this match unforgettable.

To the viewer’s relief, and unfortunately somewhat to the match’s detriment, the hand work stops being a factor in the final stretch. It’s not to say it didn’t matter or was blown off, but Aja has proven her point by now and is ready to take it home. Hotta’s not out, however, and continues to fight from underneath, getting really effective hope spots in. Ultimately, her stubbornness is what cements her defeat, as she continuously looks for a straightjacket piledriver to neutralize the monster in front of her, including on the top rope as she attempts to hit the move but is countered into Kong’s Super Back Drop for the three-count and the loss.

I don’t have any strong feelings towards Yumiko Hotta, and I even thought she was really good in this. However, and I cannot stress this enough, this may be Aja Kong’s honest to God masterpiece. Her work on top here is the stuff of legend, so cringe-inducing in its unrelenting marriage to brutality and savagery. Simply put, this is a Violent Match for Violent People, and a must-watch as a result.

Ethan

When Stephen (@ghostofkurta on Twitter) asked me if I wanted to write about this match for its thirtieth anniversary, I jumped at the opportunity. 

I still can’t think of a better way to help introduce a blog called Violent People than an anniversary post about the best joshi beating of the year. Coincidences like this don’t come around too often, but when they do, you have to take the opportunity. Especially when we’re talking about something so integral to both women’s legacies. 

Aja is finally the ace up against another upstart. These two do not let up for one second, and they establish their roles right away. Hotta is the upstart challenging the Empress of AJW that is 1994 Aja Kong, but she doesn’t want to be treated like one. In spite of her better efforts, Hotta gets beaten down by the veteran almost effortlessly until she can find an opening to strike. Hotta tries to slap Aja, a disrespectful act to think about, let alone perform. 

As penance, Aja demolishes the young firestarter with violent fury. 

She pulverizes her younger opponent with a table piledriver and some sick shots. There’s a level of malice here you only ever see in high-level joshi, a willingness to go the extra mile to make everything look—and feel—as painful as it is. The strikes and submission holds all look brutal, and each woman shows a disdain for one another, kicking the other when they’re down. There’s nothing like an Aja Kong beatdown, especially when the recipient can give as good as she gets like Hotta does. 

Joshi’s more free-flowing structure and propensity for evil violence work wonders for these two. Aja targets Hotta’s bloody hand, a prior cut opening up when she slapped the champion, and mauls it with finger holds and stomps that would make Penta cower. These two riffing on a grotesque looking hand injury amps up the hatred and desperation, as Aja systematically demolishes her opponent. The visual of Hotta’s oddly bent and bleeding fingers is EXACTLY what I was looking for with this project. Hotta finally lands a hard kick to Aja’s face that causes it to swell and bruise, another sick highlight in a match filled with them. Some shots later on, especially when Aja’s shit-talking Hotta, show just how swollen Aja’s face is from that kick and her palm strikes. 

This match ALSO includes the coolest bit of violent psychology I’ve ever seen. 

Trapped in a tight sleeper, nowhere to go, Yumiko Hotta rubs her bloody hand on her own head and Aja’s arm to lubricate and slip out of the hold. It doesn’t work, she gets her leg on the rope, and that makes the moment even more incredible. Hotta’s ridiculously violent ingenuity couldn’t compete with Aja’s tenacity, no matter how cool the shit she tries is. The futility of the moment is essential, proving that Hotta will claw her way to any victory she can muster even if it doesn’t work out. 

After some more brilliant strike exchanges, the match cools down significantly in the final stretch. It returns to the AJW style big bombs thrown by both women, removing some of the uniqueness from this contest. It’s still good, but lacks the ferocity and tenacity of the earlier two thirds. Hotta hits Aja with a gnarly avalanche German suplex, but the challenger’s arm gives out on her when she goes for her finish, allowing Aja the opening she needs to bomb on her opponent and finally retain her title. 

Aja’s finishing stretches are usually wonderful, and this is no different, but it fits a mold far more than I’d want a match like this to fit that mold by the end. The more traditional ending aside, some of the coolest visuals and craziest strikes I’ve ever witnessed. A perfect first two thirds, and if they were allowed to fully commit to it and not the AJW bomb style, a perfect match.