Wrestler of the Week: Aja Kong
RondaRousey.com’s Wrestler of the Week series profiles significant wrestlers from the past and present.
Aja Kong has been wrestling for thirty-two years and she doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. Whether in her early career in All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling, her brief run in WWE in the mid-’90s, or on the independent scene in Japan and elsewhere, she’s one of the best bruisers in the business. In this column, we’ll take a closer look at what makes Kong such a unique, important, and fun-to-watch figure in women’s wrestling.
A Reluctant Villain
Kong opened up about her difficult early life and career in an episode of the CGTN documentary series Assignment Asia in 2016. She was born Erika Shishido to a Japanese mother and an African American serviceman father who left when she was five years old. She was the only mixed race child at her school and the other kids would either ignore her or bully her with racist insults. Her mother encouraged her to be brave and ignore what others thought, but it wasn’t easy.
Shishido was inspired to start wrestling, like her future rival Meiko Satomura, when she saw popular tag team the Crush Gals. She started training with
A Dominant Survivor
Rather than lose her job and give up on her dream, Shishido went with the character. Soon after her debut, she joined Dump Matsumoto’s villainous stable the Atrocious Alliance (arch-enemies of the Crush Gals.) She dyed her hair and painted her face. Her character used motifs of jungle animals, especially gorillas and snakes.
On Assignment Asia, Kong said she hated what she was doing early in her career, but was motivated to do well when her mother was hospitalized and she knew she would be watching her on TV. “I decided to use being
Kong remained a villain but became extremely popular for her great matches and incredible presence. Her Uraken spinning back fist finisher was a one-hit kill. She and Bison Kimura (as Jungle Jack) won the WWWA World Tag Team Championship twice. Kong herself feuded with Bull Nakano for the WWWA World Single Championship and, after losing some title opportunities, finally beat Nakano in November 1992 to end her three-year championship reign. Ultimately, her greatest rival would be Manami Toyota, one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time, and the two had several matches that would go down in history as classics.
Her second AJW theme song declared that “God made the devil just for fun, but when he wanted the real thing, he made Aja Kong,” and that full-fledged, dominant version of Kong arrived in WWF in 1995. She won the women’s Survivor Series match at that year’s PPV of the same name for her team after pinning four opponents, including Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze. She also wrestled on two episodes of
Kong was being built up as an intimidating challenger for Blayze’s title and was scheduled for a championship match at the 1996 Royal Rumble. However, Blayze was fired from the company before this match could occur.
Freelance Powerhouse
In 1997, Aja Kong left AJW to found her own promotion, Arsion. In 2001, Kong left her entrepreneurial venture by walking out of a tag team match.
This started the freelance period of Kong’s pro wrestling career, the era that continues today. As an independent contractor
A memorable aspect of Kong’s career in the mid-2000s was her rivalry-to-partnership with Amazing Kong (later Kharma in WWE and Awesome Kong in TNA.) The Kongs wrestled each other at a Gaea show in 2004, in the American’s Japanese debut. Later that same night, they united to form the W Kong tag team. They would go on to defeat the Crush Gals for the AAAW Tag Team Championship a month later and win gold in AJW, LLPW, and Hustle (where they eventually lost their Super Tag Team Championships to the Dudley Boyz.)
Kong currently works for OZ Academy in Japan, a
Kong has also wrestled internationally this decade, including for Mexican
At this point, Aja Kong has defeated opponents both in and out of the ring to become widely beloved and respected. She has said that she plans on wrestling for her entire life.