10 Memorably Punishing WWE Matches
8. Women's Elimination Tag Match - Survivor Series 1995
During the mid-1990s, partly in response to WCW's importing of talented luchadors, the WWE entered into a short-lived relationship with All Japan Pro Wrestling. One of the results was this Survivor Series women's elimination tag team match, which marked a rare confluence of the normally safety-conscious WWE and the brutal insanity of mid-90s Japanese women's wrestling.
The match was notable for rapid, impactful action typical of the joshi style, with two particularly un-WWE-like instances of raw punishment. One was a rolling kick delivered with orbital-shattering gusto by Lioness Asuka to the minuscule Chaparita Asari. The second was a monstrous backdrop driver from the equally monstrous Aja Kong, one of the few deliberate headdrop moves ever seen in the WWE.
The match is a curio that illustrates just how tough matches in Japan could be, not just when things go wrong or get too personal, but night after night. What stood out as memorably punishing in the WWE was just another night for joshi's finest.