Jadeee's Dangerous Queen Deep Dive Pt. 1 (87-92)
From 1987-2005, here is the official deep dive of Akira Hokuto's career from a woman who idolizes her in every single way - starting with a prologue of sorts.
This isn’t an essay about how much I love Akira Hokuto - that’ll come later, but man, do I love Akira Hokuto. So much so that I decided to do a deep dive into her entire career, because I’ve seen a good chunk of her career, but mostly apart of AJW watch projects. I already understand almost all of the context thanks to that, so I figured, why not watch a bunch of her matches in order? Seriously, why not?
This is the first part of what’s going to be a decently long watch project. We start in 1987 and then move onto 1992, right before Akira Hokuto goes on excursion to CMLL, where the Dangerous Queen we all know and love would truly be born. In her early years, she’s still a pretty good wrestler, and there’s more than enough foreshadowing of what would make her so famous, and the qualities that cemented her as the greatest women’s wrestler of all time in my opinion.
1. Hisako Uno & Yumiko Hotta vs Kazue Nagahori & Yumi Ogura - AJW 4/27/1987
There's probably a better way to start an Akira Hokuto deep dive, but 80's Joshi is a bit of a blindspot for me so I wouldn't know - plus, this can't be a terrible starting point. This is more or less the death of Hisako Uno, and the birth of Akira Hokuto. This match would become symbolic for what would later be a pretty rocky road for the Dangerous Queen, as she famously breaks her neck from a top rope tombstone...to end the first fall. She wrestles the next two holding her head in place with her hands, and with each tag out, collapsing onto the apron unable to stand.
The match is pretty standard until that moment. Naturally, everything changes - Yumiko Hotta is visibly pissed at Ogura & Nagahori who, like the crowd, probably have no idea of the severity of what just happened. There’s a story that Hotta shoot kicked Ogura in the mouth and had to later collect her teeth from ringside after the show so that AJW wouldn’t have to replace them.
For what it’s worth, when you get past the historical significance aspect and just being amazed at Hokuto’s resilience, it’s very impressive to me that the match is still coherent afterward. It’s nothing to gush at overall, but it is still an enjoyable, heated tag team match that is a must-watch for anyone wanting to educate themselves about Akira Hokuto.
Jadeee Rating: ***
2. Akira Hokuto vs Chigusa Nagayo - AJW 3/19/1989
So, again, 80’s AJW is a bit of a blindspot for me at the time of this writing, but having seen 90’s Chigusa, I definitely see her all-time case. This match alone, however? This shows me her greatest of all time case. Holy shit, this match is incredible. Chigusa is great at working with young talent, but Hokuto really holds her own here. She moves with a sense of hunger and urgency that paints the story of a newcomer vs the biggest star in the promotion as something high stakes, and getting emotionally invested in this one is no challenge at all, whether you know these women or not.
Put simply, the match is just proper pro wrestling. Both women came out of this looking fantastic. Every bit of offense on both sides is earned. The work on Hokuto’s neck from Chigusa is great, both as just the obvious thing to do and a bit of payback for Hokuto’s own work towards Chigusa’s neck earlier on. There’s no one way to do a “upcoming vs already here/already been there” wrestling match, but if you were to do it in such fashion to make that newcomer look to be on the same level as that vet, this is how you’d do it.
The insanely hot crowd probably made working this match like clockwork for both women, but it’s still a sight to behold. A lot of later Joshi is very “go-go-go”, but they really take their time here - for that, whenever they do “go-go-go”, there’s a lot more weight in what they’re doing, and there’s not a single thread left open. It’s a perfect, concisely paced, packed story that really isn’t that long, is meaningful, purposeful, and just beautiful. It’s wrestling.
In terms of the bigger picture, Hokuto’s portrayal of her aforementioned desperation and hunger toward beating Nagayo would be a constant fixture throughout her work that made her both a fierce babyface and unmatched in her aggression as a heel. It’s not hard to see that there was greatness here with Hokuto.
Jadeee Rating: ****¼
3. Akira Hokuto vs Manami Toyota - AJW 6/17/1990
Much like the ‘87 tag, this isn’t one you come to for the match, but for the tragic outcome and historical significance. This would be another Akira Hokuto injury during a major match, taking place in the first round of the 1990 Japan Grand Prix against a name I’m sure you’re more than familiar with. Unlike the ‘87 tag, however, this one never really gets off its feet. It ends quite abruptly, though the match is kind of stretched by Hokuto, well, stretching Toyota for a few minutes and just twisting her like a pretzel like she’d do in their much more famous match.
Manami Toyota is about to turn the tides completely, but she runs up top and is shoved down to the ground - Akira Hokuto then goes up top for a crossbody, but with a nasty clang, her knee slams into the barricade and, yeah.
From now on, Akira Hokuto’s knee would always be bandaged up and padded, but to be honest— and it may be cheating— I totally added half a star for what happens after this injury. It makes this even better to watch than the ‘87 tag, because what follows is Akira Hokuto not just denying, pushing and shoving people trying to help her stand, insisting that she can do it herself and continue the match. I’m probably going to throw around the “words don’t do it justice” phrase a lot, but truly, words cannot do it justice. You have to see for yourself.
Hokuto’s reaction to her injury is both inspiring and disturbing, as she’d go from yelling at everyone to breaking down in tears to yelling at everyone again - but it would be another display that just perfectly encapsulates what makes the Dangerous Queen one of the all-time best. Just tough as nails with a nasty attitude to go with it.
Manami Toyota would advance in the JGP by default, and then go on to win the entire thing. The lack of an ending would also spawn a cute little rivalry between the two for a few months, one which is super interesting to watch as it perfectly encapsulates both women’s approach to wrestling better than anything else ever could.
Jadeee Rating: **½
4. Akira Hokuto vs Manami Toyota - AJW Survival Shout In Korakuen
This match is a pretty great watch. They accomplish a lot here, and you can really feel both women with an edge. There’s something to prove as the two up-and-comers are hungry for a spot at the top, but there’s not enough food there for everybody. Like pretty much all Joshi matches of this era, you feel every hit, every throw, every suplex, no matter how nasty or ugly they are. Hokuto stretches and bends Toyota like her bones are made of rubber, Toyota throws caution to the wind in her weakened state and so does Hokuto, going so far as to once again do the crossbody from the top onto the outside. It’s a thirty minute time limit draw and you don’t really feel the half-hour go by until the last eight or nine minutes.
Admittedly, this match is far from perfect. There’s a lot of obvious padding for time as Hokuto holds Toyota in submissions so long that I struggled not to zone out, but for what it’s worth, they somehow achieved the feat of making me want to see more of these two fight, even though I’d just gotten thirty minutes of it. For everything it does wrong, it does a lot more right, and it’s hard not to be invested when both women illustrate such stakes, passion and an unmatched will to win the damn match. It’ll never not be interesting watching two of the most famous Joshi wrestlers ever do battle in such early phases of their career, but what’s more interesting to me is the difference in philosophy that is clear - albeit ever clear in a later rematch. We’ll get to that later, but for this one, we haven’t figured out who the better woman is.
Jadeee Rating: ***½
5. Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue - AJW Wrestlemarinepiad 1990
There’s not a whole lot here, this is a rather standard Joshi tag - not much to sink your teeth into, lots of nasty looking suplexes, strikes, exciting dives, and it doesn’t feel too long, so it’s a decently enjoyable match. Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue’s beef as partners is pretty funny to see. Skippable, but not offensive by any means. Akira Hokuto gets the pin over Kyoko Inoue, meaning we still don’t really know who the better woman between her and Hokuto is yet.
Jadeee Rating: **¾
5. Akira Hokuto vs Bull Nakano - AJW 1/4/1991
The golden age of 80’s AJW was gone. A new decade was upon us. Done were the days of the Crush Gals, Dump Matsumoto, Devil Masami, Jaguar Yokota - all of these giants were gone. Certainly, the new stars of AJW sat under their learning tree, but none quite took those lessons as well (on top of being prominent during that era as well) as Bull Nakano. Bull Nakano has a case for being the single most important figure in the business in the 90’s - and as far as the Joshi scene goes, no one else even comes close.
Mick Foley is iconic for many things, but one of them is his ability to make stars. Think of Bull’s early 90s red belt run as a Joshi Mick Foley, making women like Aja Kong, Akira Hokuto, Manami Toyota, Kyoko Inoue - names you undoubtedly have heard before, LEGIT. All of them can be accredited to Bull Nakano in this one year span. It is a run unlike anything I’ve seen before.
It only seemed natural that after such a rocky yet hot 1990, Hokuto would kick off 1991 by challenging the biggest beast in the company, for the biggest belt in the company. This is yet another ****+ match for Hokuto. I’m not sure if I’d say it’s better or worse than the Chigusa match, but they are certainly on equal footing.
It’s as simple as it gets. What you have to understand is Bull didn’t make these women stars simply by giving them a lot - she beat them into becoming stars. She made them work for it. She brought something out in them that they didn’t even know they had in them. It’s such a perfect matchup for that reason, because how can Akira Hokuto, who’s been to hell and back, discover a new fire in her? Well, she doesn’t. From the word “go”, she brings hell to Bull Nakano. She still has to work for everything she gets, but not nearly as much as say, Manami Toyota had to.
Akira Hokuto matches up to Bull, and on top of giving her hell, refuses to be put down - a trope in wrestling that can easily become tired, but pro wrestling is all about the suspension of disbelief. Can I suspend my disbelief and buy into a woman that’s wrestled a match with a broken neck and tried to fight with a torn knee refusing to be put down? Fucking absolutely. For that, it never becomes contrived to me. At one point, Nakano gets so frustrated with Hokuto’s will that she attempts to put her down with a tombstone off the second rope, only for the referee to refuse the count because interference was involved. What an awesome spot.
Eventually, of course, Akira Hokuto does go down, but much like the ‘87 tag and the ‘89 Chigusa match, Akira Hokuto does not come out of this match the same Akira Hokuto that came in. What a phenomenal pro wrestling match.
Jadeee Rating: ****¼
6. Akira Hokuto vs Manami Toyota - AJW 1/11/1991
If you follow me, you know I am very harsh on Akira Hokuto vs Manami Toyota at AJW Destiny. For the record, I find that match very enjoyable, but to call it the best wrestling match of all time? The best Joshi match of all time? The best anything of all time? It’s laughable. I’m especially harsh on it, though, because if you want to see the best singles match Akira Hokuto and Manami Toyota have…look no further.
This match, to me, is a historical landmark of sorts. I’ve never quite seen a match like it. Not narratively speaking, but this match quite literally tells you who both women are, and illustrates the contrast in their respective wrestling philosophies so PERFECTLY that it’s as if their careers from this moment forward were written. That said, the match itself is fucking great.
This is perhaps the most interesting Manami Toyota singles performance ever, and it still has its flaws, but you don’t see them until later on. If you’ve been following, we still don’t know who the better woman is between these two. We can only hold off on finding out for so long. But there…is a catch.
Both women walk in wounded. Manami Toyota with an injured knee, but that is nothing compared to the injured, fully casted arm that Akira Hokuto dons. They waste no time. The moment the bell rings, Toyota is on Hokuto’s arm. It’s dirty, but there’s no point in building escalation in the match when things have already escalated in their previous two singles bouts. Toyota assumes the position of the heel (which she should’ve done more throughout her career) and tears away at her opponent’s injured arm.
A nice little tidbit; Akira Hokuto’s arm is injured, therefore she never uses it during the match. A crazy concept that even some of my all-time favorite wrestlers never grasped (sorry, Danielson).
Akira Hokuto is one of my favorite sellers ever, which is why it’s funny that, on the flipside, Manami Toyota is one of my least favorite. Remember when I said this match is a picture perfect demonstration of their contrasting philosophies? Well, eventually, Toyota misses a dive and agitates her injured knee. When Hokuto’s in control, she works on it. Now, naturally, you’d think this would affect the way Toyota moves and does her signature moves like the missile dropkick and the moonsault, but, y’know. Nope.
Luckily, though, because Hokuto doesn’t work on it that much (even though it’s still stupid, because it was…already injured) and Toyota is the heel, it doesn’t bother me enough for it to not be a **** match. The match is still riveting and it’s very tight as both women don’t have to worry so much about padding the runtime to hit a 30 minute mark.
Again, while not without its flaws…it’s a pretty great match that I find myself consistently enjoying. Do yourself a favor and watch it.
Manami Toyota retains the All-Pacific title, but…Akira Hokuto was far from 100%. Can we really say she’s the better woman?
Jadeee Rating: ****
7. Akira Hokuto vs Aja Kong - AJW 3/17/1991
Yet another early battle with a Joshi icon, and more importantly, someone who would be one of Akira Hokuto’s most prominent all-time rivals; Aja Kong. This is their first bout, and the chemistry is already there. More than any of Hokuto’s previous singles matches, you can see right away that something clicks between these two. It’s a very simple match that isn’t long at all, and while there isn’t a whole lot to digest here, it’s chalk full of great looking offense and, above all else, personality. The kind that only Aja Kong brings to every single fucking wrestling match she’s ever been in.
It’s hard not to enjoy this match, as in 1991, Aja was really coming into her own, and to the surprise of no one, her and a young Akira Hokuto had a match that is simply a David vs. Goliath-esque blast.
Jadeee Rating: ***½
8. Akira Hokuto vs Suzuka Minami - AJW 4/29/1991
Akira Hokuto finds herself once again challenging for the All Pacific title, this time against a different champion that she’s only semi-familiar with. This is another pretty standard Joshi affair, but only the best kind. Suzuka Minami is one of the more underrated Joshis - of course, she was in an era full of greats, and that gave her a certain ceiling, but for what it’s worth, I’ve never watched a match of hers where I didn’t enjoy her work. This is a great mid-card title match, further establishing the All-Pacific as the premier belt for the growing Joshi names to further cement themselves in the company’s hierarchy — winning it is something of a graduation from your previous position, which is why now was the perfect time for Hokuto to finally win the title, having more than established herself as a company mainstay.
These two have very clear chemistry, and it’s really just a very nice professional wrestling match. When I saw 3.25*s make the world go round, this is the exact kind of match I’m talking about.
Jadeee Rating: ***¼
9. Akira Hokuto vs Toshiyo Yamada - AJW 7/21/1991
The first defense of Akira Hokuto’s All Pacific title reign is perfectly indicative of why I enjoy it so much. It is six months long, but there’s only about four matches out there including the one in which she won the title. Despite that, it’s like…my ideal mid-card title reign. All three of her defenses are pretty short, concise, with not a whole lot of fat. Toshiyo Yamada is a great wrestler, but one whose first few years were flip-floppy to say the least. This, however, is one of her better performances. While there’s not a whole lot here to write home about, the best way I can describe is…it’s “cute”.
Jadeee Rating: ***
10. Akira Hokuto vs Yumiko Hotta - AJW The Exciting Zone
Defense #2 of Hokuto’s All Pacific title reign is even better than the first. Yumiko Hotta never fails to bring a level of hard-hitting aggression to her matches, and I’ve never not had a good time just watching her kick the shit out of this one. Hokuto putting the title up against her first tag team partner is— not some crazy long-term booking or storytelling— but a nice measure of how both women have grown since that first tag match together in 1987. Because everything Hotta does is so snappy and aggressive, everything Hokuto hits feels more important, and like pretty much every Joshi match, you’ll feel everything by just watching. It’s real short, and again, not a lot of fat. One I’d definitely check out if you have only a few minutes to spare.
Jadeee Rating: ***¼
11. Akira Hokuto vs Suzuka Minami - AJW 10/20/1991
If winning the All Pacific title was a graduation from one tier to another for Hokuto, losing it was the same. This Hokuto/Minami match is even better than the one in which Hokuto won the title. It’s much shorter, incredibly packed, easy to follow, and God damn, it’s just good. In hindsight, AJW’s roster was very strong at the time but in reality, they were still building everybody up. The main event scene was really mainly just Bull Nakano, Jungle Jack and on occasion someone like Madusa Micela or Monster Ripper would stick their nose in. I bring that up because it’s for that reason that these matches with the people AJW is trying to build are often given…a bit more time than they need. Thankfully, there are exceptions, and this is one of them.
It’s short, but it’s the perfect length. A great end to a sweet mid-card title reign for Hokuto, and quite literally everything from the first match is improved. Again, you see the growth in real time. Minami regains the All Pacific, but it’s now time for Akira Hokuto to move onto much bigger things.
Jadeee Rating: ***½
12. Akira Hokuto & Bull Nakano vs Manami Toyota & Debbie Malenko - AJW 11/3/1991
It’s impossible for me to get bored of watching Bull Nakano beat the shit out of her fellow roster members and whip them up into shape - and my God, does she give Manami Toyota a beating in this match. Malenko and Toyota are a good team. Not Toyota’s best duo, obviously, but Toyota is always best when paired with someone whose style directly contrasts her own. Like all Bull matches during this era, every piece of offense that comes from the underdogs has to be earned. They lay some stuff in on Hokuto, but they don’t really leave a mark on Nakano until Debbie manages to get her grounded into a submission hold. It’s a really neat thing, you can see the change in strategy from strikes to aerial assault to trying to just wear the monster out.
Bull’s tags against Jungle Jack during this period are some of the best matches ever, but I absolutely love her in this kind of match where she’s head-and-shoulders above everyone, both in a literal sense and in a kayfabe sense. A lot of these AJW tags tend to run a bit long, so the fact that this was the perfect length is incredibly satisfying. There is so much to look out for in this match, and this is where Manami Toyota starts to really come into her own as the Toyota we all know.
Of course, this isn’t a Manami Toyota deep dive - Akira Hokuto is great not only for letting the babyfaces get offense in until Bull can interject and turn things back in their favor, but for making those bursts of offense against Nakano feel short-lived and sour the mood, as Hokuto inevitably interjects herself if Nakano doesn’t. I really like Bull and this young Hokuto as a tag team. It feels like Bull’s now taking her by the hand and helping her level up, and this match was an incredibly fun watch.
Jadeee Rating: ***½
13. Akira Hokuto & Manami Toyota vs Kyoko Inoue & Toshiyo Yamada - AJW Wrestlemarinepiad 1991
Remember what I said about AJW tags being overly long and AJW perhaps giving their matches too much time, when the performers are clearly pretty green? These women have a few years of experience, but not enough to make a 32 minute tag team match feel worth it. It’s one of those rather standard tags that don’t offer much in terms of substance but can still be enjoyed regardless of whether your brain is on or off. Again, not sustainable for 32 minutes. That said, that doesn’t necessarily make it bad. It’s just fine. Had it been maybe 15, 16 minutes? I think I’d think slightly higher of it.
In spite of the dragging though, Hokuto and Toyota are a really fun team. I like Kyoko and Yamada as a team, but this was definitely an off night. Toyota and Hokuto are becoming more important fixtures of AJW, but this just wasn’t their night, as Kyoko and Yamada were in line for a big push, winning here and then later going on to beat Jungle Jack to win the 1991 Tag League The Best.
Plus, for all the things not great here, Akira Hokuto, as always, is on her A-game. I think her and Toyota genuinely have better chemistry as a duo than they do as singles opponents. Most of the match is controlled by them, and it’s never not fun to watch. I always found Hokuto to be quite an underrated tag team wrestler - if there’s someone she doesn’t find a way to mesh with, I haven’t seen it.
Jadeee Rating: **¾
14. Akira Hokuto & Bull Nakano vs Jungle Jack - AJW 12/9/1991
Another really fun entry into the premier rivalry of the early 90’s between Bull Nakano and Aja Kong. These big Bull and (insert wrestler here) vs Jungle Jack matches are an impossible formula to break. What’s so great about them, to me, is that while that (insert wrestler here) is typically a side character narratively, the match is kinda built around them, keeping every match unique. They’re not interchangeable. These matches will always be fierce, hard-hitting brawls centered around Aja trying to prove that she’s surpassed her mentor that usually go all over the building - but Bull’s partner is always important with the focal point still being on Bull and Jungle Jack. This one, while still a brawl, resembles a wrestling match more than say, Bull/Grizzly vs Jungle Jack or Bull/Ripper vs Jungle Jack. It’s pretty great if you’ve seen those matches. Bull/Grizzly vs Jungle Jack in my opinion is one of the greatest wrestling matches ever - there are four serial killers in the ring trying to mutilate each other.
The Bull/Ripper vs Jungle Jack tag is another case of four serial killers sharing a ring, albeit not as heated or good as the match I just mentioned. Akira Hokuto is…not quite a serial killer. She’s a great wrestler trying to unlock her utmost potential with Bull Nakano, and it almost feels like she’s a rookie all over again in this kind of environment - one the likes of which she’s never seen. A good learning experience I suppose, and it’s pretty funny seeing Hokuto go from traditional Joshi tags and singles matches to swimming with the sharks, getting the shit kicked out of her, but being able to hold her own, and putting everything she can into holding her own, even if Bull has to bail her out more often than not.
I don’t know how much more we’ll see her again, so I just wanna say; Bison Kimura is probably the most underrated Joshi wrestler of all time. With these four in the ring, one at their peak, and the other three not there but still high-level performers…how could this be anything short of just really, really good?
Jadeee Rating: ***½
15. Akira Hokuto vs Kyoko Inoue - AJW Korakuen Super Charge
Man, I rate Kyoko highly, but her rookie years were not pretty. Her contemporaries are all much better, but her and Hokuto just don’t seem to have great chemistry. It’s quite a long match, but I will say that it has a fine sense of pacing. The time doesn’t have much to do with it, really, it just wasn’t great, but it certainly wasn’t bad either. It’s just fine. Whether or not you wanna watch a 20 minute match that is just fine is up to you, but I didn’t necessarily feel like my time was wasted, just that it could’ve been spent on something better. It’s a decent outing for Hokuto, but she’s certainly had better. There just isn’t a whole lot here and it can be downright boring at times. Again, not dreadful, but not something I’d want to watch again.
Jadeee Rating: **½
16. Akira Hokuto vs Bull Nakano - AJW 3/15/1992
A more tightly packed, if less emotionally riveting version of their January ‘91 bout - this one is more to test Hokuto’s skills and see how she’s progressed in the last year, which she obviously has. This one is pretty 50/50, which is saying a lot, because, y’know, it’s Bull Nakano. Bull does get the win after countering a Hokuto counter that puts Hokuto in a more compromising position, which I like. It’s a match that serves its purpose, and does it very well. Quite an enjoyable watch, and even if it was far from what these two can achieve together, this is a simple situation of “what the time, place and circumstances called for”. Hokuto can finally stand up to Nakano even more than she did last year, and comes out looking pretty good. Funny enough, whether you wanna accredit it to this match or not, which, I think it makes sense to - everything changes here, as indicated by the next match.
This one wasn’t so bad, though.
Jadeee Rating: ***
17. Akira Hokuto vs Takako Inoue - AJW St. Battles Day
This match threw me for a loop, I’m not gonna lie. See, I was under the impression that Akira Hokuto had her rookie years and then would go to Mexico and adopt a more defined personality, the iconic look, yada yada yada. I believe this is her last match before the excursion to Mexico (it’s at least the last televised one) and holy shit, it’s the Dangerous Queen. Hokuto bullies the shit out of Takako for a few minutes, Takako fights back a little bit after Hokuto relinquishes the pin for more punishment, but eventually gets put down. It’s a straight up heel performance from Hokuto, and it’s unlike any match she’s had before. It’s really weird that this character change came right when she was leaving for Mexico…but wow, it’s a hell of a sight.
Credit where it’s due, by the way. Takako is, in my opinion, superior to Kyoko and she’s especially really good in the role of, y’know, getting bullied. All around, it’s the good stuff. Enjoyed this quite a bit.
Jadeee Rating: ***
With that, part one of the DQDD (we’re calling it that now) - the prologue of sorts, is over. Akira Hokuto doesn’t wrestle all that differently in her first few years than she does in her prime, but it’s her honing in on selling, being more expressive and doing more in between moves that elevates her to the next level. The potential here is very clear, but also very clearly untapped. Even so, all of her performances are good and she has a couple of pretty amazing matches under her belt. It’s only up from here.
We are just getting started.
Good stuff here! I look forward to reading more about some of these matches.