The Great Aja

(グレートエイジャ, Gurētoeija?, lit. Great Aja)

The Great Asia, "Angel of Death"

“Well if it isn't the mother\*\*\*\*\*\* himself! Masaru Takahara! Wanna learn a trick or two? Aight- I'll teach you how it feels to get your ass beat by the best!”

—The Great Aja

**The Great Aja** is a character from the Present Day chapter, The Strongest. A Japan-born luchador known as the "Angel of Death", he is one of the six masters faced by Masaru Takahara on his quest to become the greatest warrior.

## Profile

### Appearance

Aja has messy purple hair and wears a white skull mask, decorated with an exposed brain decal on the upper left. He wears pants with a cheetah pattern and tall black boots covered in what appears to be brown fur. His promotional artwork depicts him carrying a staff with a skull at the tip and wearing a cape with a yellow-red-blue striped pattern.

### Personality

The Great Aja is a legendarily savage and brutal luchador. His rage can reach such heights that he may take it out on bystanders should they rouse his wrath. Despite his animalistic kayfabe, the Great Aja does possess enough humility to recognize defeat.

## History

### Present Day: The Strongest

The Great Aja is a famed luchador of Mexico who has mastered the moves of the famed luchador heel "El Rudo". He had earned himself the nickname of "Angel of Death" in his career, for his brutal displays in the ring and willingness to bend the rules. He also has a tendency to bite things, which is reflected in his moveset, consisting of reckless and illegal techniques like the Tornado Press and the Frankensteiner. Referring to Masaru as "mother\*\*\*\*\*\*", Aja offers no mercy to the young wrestler as they spar. Upon his defeat, Aja is incredulous, but acknowledges the outcome.

During his battle with Masaru, if certain conditions are met, a boorish audience member jeers the luchador and lobs a soda can at his head. In response, the Great Aja leaps out of the ring and beats the man to a pulp, while the man's son pleads for him to stop. He then reenters the ring and continues the fight unperturbed.

Soon after his fight with Masaru, the Great Aja is murdered in combat by Odie O'Bright, who sought to become the greatest warrior through the path of death. Calling upon Aja's acrobatics, Masaru fights O'Bright and strikes him down, avenging his death.

## Strategy

The Great Aja has two learnable moves, the powerful Frankensteiner suplex, and the long-range Tornado Press. Since both techniques are quite strong, it is recommended to keep Masaru's HP high in order to be able to take the hits and learn them. Despite his ferocity, the Great Aja has relatively low HP in comparison with the other masters. Be mindful that these moves will deal damage to Great Aja if he misses with them.

### Original

The Great Aja is incredibly difficult if faced early on without any abilities, but once Masaru has more techniques under his belt, he will fall much faster. In line with his reckless nature, Great Aja is very vulnerable to attacks from the side the back, so take that to your advantage. Almost all of his moves have a medium range, so keeping your distance won't be all that helpful. If you need to heal, make sure to stay very far away from him.

In this version, the Great Aja has a second Bite technique, which inflicts the secret Neck status effect.

### Remake

The Great Aja is made considerably easier overall for the remake. While his moves are still some of the most damaging of the chapter, he weakness in Agile techniques can be exploited; since Masaru begins with the Rolling Wheel Kick, he is not nearly as helpless as he was in the original game. In addition, once hit with an Agile technique, the Great Aja will temporarily be stricken with Terror and begin to move away from Masaru, rendering him almost completely ineffective. His Bite technique may also inflict Intoxication.

Since the Great Aja's learnable techniques still deal damage to the user if missed, using Focus to raise Masaru's evasion can be detrimental if one is gunning to learn his techniques.

## Trivia

* The Great Aja is likely based off Keiji Mutoh, a Japanese pro wrestler also known as "The Great Muta", a masked character known for his macabre looks and "magical skills".
* The Great Aja's fight contains the Watanabe event for The Strongest. The conditions to witness the scene change between versions:
	+ In the SFC version, the Great Aja must be lured to the lower right side of the battlefield, must be facing the top left corner of the screen, and then must use Bite (Blue) for it to trigger, and even then the scene is hidden behind a 1 in 50 chance.
	+ The 2022 remake made the scene easier to trigger. The Great Aja only needs to use Bite on Masaru while positioned up and to the left of him; the scene will always play out following this.