REWIND: Aja Kong vs Meiko Satomura

Let's go back in time again, again!

There will be no Write Forever for Dynamite tomorrow as I'll be busy crushing it at butt-themed trivia downtown, so instead I decided to return to REWIND and watch something from years gone by.

Once again with my trusty friend the Internet Wrestling Database, I decided to look for something from this date (September 15) and was delighted to see a GAEA show from 1999.

I was even more delighted to see an Aja Kong vs Meiko Satomura match on the card.

I was then even more delighted to see that the GAEA YouTube channel uploaded the video!

So, let's get into what I'm expecting to be a fucking bonkers match with a lot of stiffness – it's Aja Kong vs Meiko Satomura from GAEA Double Destiny 1999!

(just be sure to switch to the Japanese audio track on this video)

There is nothing like a 90s (or 80s) Japanese wrestling entrance. Seeing pictures of wrestling from Japan as a kid, then videos of it as a teenager downloading fan-made highlight videos. I'll forever have burned into my memory a video set to "Dream On" by Aerosmith with a clip of Jushin Liger transforming into Kishin Liger. I'd give anything to find that one again.

But to this match – the entrances are a fucking vibe. The video wall splits open, smoke fills the stage, and Satomura & Aja both make their entrances stepping out in silhouette, swallowed by smoke as their music plays out. Just the coolest looking shit on the planet.

Early on Satomura tries for a takedown which fails, only to follow up with a quick armdrag that looks cool as shit and earns a surprised reaction from the crowd. Kong has none of it, though, and immediately muscles Satomura to the mat with a chinlock before trying to smother her just a little bit.

The story told here in the first chunk of the match is a one as old as time. Kong is the established monster, here in the 13th year of her career, while Satomura is the smaller, younger, less-experienced wrestler in just her 4th year of wrestling.

Satomura gets some blasts of offense which seem to only piss Kong off, a thing any sane person would avoid doing as much as humanly possible.

Kong relishes dropping Satomura on her head, compressing her spine with a brainbuster, piledriver, and package piledriver all in the first 10 minutes of the match. Doing so does a good job of keeping Satomura on her heels, only able to rally enough for a kick or a strike before having her flame snuffed out yet again.

The biggest chance for an opening comes when Kong slams Satomura upside down into the corner, hanging her over the top of the turnbuckle. Kong charges in for a splash but gets slugged by Satomura who follows up with an attempted splash from the top rope much to the crowd's delight. Unfortunately, she finds Kong's feet waiting for her to once more stop the momentum.

Getting the feet up instead of the knees to block a splash is diabolical.

Satomura eventually seems to be getting as fed up with her own inability to hit more than a couple of strikes at a time as Kong is having to swat her away. Satomura attempts a standing rear naked choke which is immediately rebuffed. She then lifts Kong up on her shoulders, perhaps for a Death Valley Driver, which elicits more shock from the crowd before Kong lays her out with a lariat.

In a fun thing I can't remember seeing before, Satomura tries for a Pelé kick but Kong literally slaps her feet out of the air. Kong soon follows up with an attempted spinning backfist which Satomura ducks before successfully hitting the Pelé on the second try.

Kong regains the advantage long enough to try for a falling elbow from the second rope which Satomura counters into a cross armbreaker.

The two trade control back and forth from here on out. Kong flattens Satomura with a sickening powerbomb. Satomura escapes from Kong on the top rope to hit a German Suplex with Kong on the second rope before finally connecting with the Death Valley Driver. The crowd comes fucking unglued here, thinking Satomura has the win but Kong kicks out at two.

It's from this point forward the crowd is roaring with every big move, fully invested in what they could be about to see – the relative newcomer taking down the AAAW Champion.

Satomura is able to come back a few minutes later with a second DVD, but this too only gets a two count.

She tries for another DVD but Kong slips out then clobbers Satomura with a spinning backfist. Too exhausted to follow up, Kong and Satomura lay prone on the mat without an attempt at a cover.

As they rise, Kong places Satomura on the top rope again and Meiko escapes for a second time – this time with a flipping powerbomb off of the top rope to another huge reaction from the crowd.

Kong tries for the spinning backfist again but Satomura counters into an inverted cross armbreaker, Kong panicking on the mat as she tries to reach the bottom rope. She gets there, but not before the damage is done to her right arm. And that's her backfisting arm!

Kong wraps Satomura in a rear naked choke of her own but can't apply it fully, letting the hold go due to the damage done to her right arm. As Satomura rises to her feet with her back to Kong, Kong takes the opportunity to hit a fucking gnarly spinning backfist to the back of the skull.

She wraps Satomura in another choke, this time bringing her to the mat, It looks like Satomura is out cold at first, but after a few seconds she begins to fight back and squirms around enough to get a boot on the bottom rope,

Exhausted, Kong and Satomura pull each other to their feet. Satomura hits one more desperation Pelé kick which staggers Kong, who comes back with perhaps an even more desperate spinning backfist to pick up the victory and retain the AAAW Title.

What a fucking match! Once we get to Satomura finally hitting the Death Valley Driver, the crowd is fully bought in and making noise until the final bell. An incredible showcase for how to do the dominant monster versus the rising star and making both of them look indestructible.

As with most 90s Japanese wrestling, I wasn't tuned into it at an obsessive level. I would read about it and see clips/highlights, but never had a reliable way of watching it at the time. The internet then just wasn't what it is now (for better or worse).

For some background after watching the match, I checked out the Scott's Blog of Doom post about this show and he had this to say about the backstory:

And months of build pays off with young MEIKO getting an All Asia Athlete Women’s Championship shot against the top-ranked Aja Kong, herself champion of two promotions (GAEA & ARSION)! This has been built up by Aja disrespecting Meiko, no-selling her, and pinning her in a variety of matches, refusing to budge and be humbled. And a lot of it stems from a miracle victory Meiko had in a tag match on April 4th, hitting the GAEA MDK Sleeper to bring Aja down and hitting two straight Death Valley Drivers for the shocker win. But every match after that was Aja getting even, to the point of no-selling. But now Aja, one of the best at putting others over there ever was, now has a big showcase to do so.

Hey, look at us both talking about this being a showcase. I remember seeing Scott Keith's name back in the day when I was reading RSPW at probably way too young of an age to know what RSPW was. Now maybe some little weirdo is reading this and will vaguely remember be 30 years later.

Or maybe not! But at least we won't catch an Aja Kong spinning backfist to the base of our skulls. And for that, we should all be thankful.