GAEA JAPAN- WE ARE GAEA JAPAN!:
(Nov. 2nd 1996, Singapore Indoor Stadium)
* And we have more GAEA Japan! Except… this is from Singapore? Unfortunately, despite this being a very big deal for the promotion, this is clipped and is missing several matches. Like, this is the first time we see real TITLE BELTS in this promotion and it’s 14-16-minute matches cut by half so they fit in 10-minute YouTube videos. This sees the creation of the AAAW World Title, the principal belt of GAEA Japan, as Chigusa Nagayo takes on her ancient rival, Devil Masami. Also being defended are the AAAW Jr. Heavyweight Tag Titles, as OZ Academy takes on the GAEA golden rookies, Meiko & Kato.
Matches We Miss:
TOSHIE UEMATSU d. MAIKO MATSUMOTO (12:36): That sounds horrifically long given how Maiko is BRAND-NEW.
BOMBER HIKARI d. MAKIE NUMAO (13:49): The weak midcarder of GAEA beats the Kicky Rookie. Said to have “stupid comedy and poor transitions” by Mike Lorefice.
KAORU & RINA ISHII d. CHIHIRO NAKANO & TOSHIE UEMATSU (14:49): Not much is said about this. KAORU is the only elder so obviously her team won.
GO AHEAD!
AKIRA HOKUTO vs. SAKURA HIROTA:
* LOL that sneaky Chigusa. Giving us back AKIRA HOKUTO and her first match back is fighting the pink-clad rookie dingus Sakura Hirota. Poor Sakura gets the rub of being demolished by Aja & Akira within a few months of each other. Akira’s in her very complex green gear- pretty well the outfit she’d wear in WCW as well (complete with the gas mask). The crowd actually pops big just for that reveal.
Sakura takes her best shot by whipping Akira before the bell and throwing shots, but Akira quickly teaches her a lesson, grinding away at her and launching her by the hair (Sakura sells it like her scalp was torn out). Akira takes her time, milking everything, but demands the kid get up so she can fly off the top onto her, and Sakura moves! She throws desperation dropkicks and tries for the pin, but Akira just boots her out of a charge and says that’s enough. But Sakura backslides her for two! Akira eats a small package before shaking the cobwebs out, swats the kid again, then builds up anticipation for a lethal missile dropkick, just kneeling on the baby’s chest for three (3:43).
Well I guess if this is a show on foreign soil, they couldn’t just do a 7-second Numacchi squash, lol. Still, Akira was more than generous with the kid, selling for her swatting attacks and desperation rollups & dropkicks, before inevitably killing her with a transition move in any other bout.
Rating: 1/4* (pretty much an extended squash with weak rookie offense and the veteran killing her with the basics)
AAAW JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM TITLES:
SUGAR SATO & CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA vs. SONOKO KATO & MEIKO SATOMURA:
* And it’s time for GAEA to gain Jr. Tag Belts! Existing pretty well to give hype to their young stars, it’s… oh hey, they apparently won those belts off-screen? What’s up with that? This match has got the three best workers among the First Class… plus Sato. Fittingly, it’s the two best non-Chikayo rookies defending GAEA Japan against the traitorous OZ Academy swine. Kato’s in blue, Meiko’s in red, Chikayo’s in yellow/green & Sato’s in white.
Team GAEA jumps Team OZ immediately, but things go south for them outside the ring and Kato takes a double-submission from them, then Meiko gets tied up too. Clipped to Chikayo hitting her rana & sunset flip on Meiko, then a stunner & double-facecrusher. Meiko kicks out at two and forearms the bejeezus out of Sugar, who counters with slaps. Meiko decks her & Kato gets her bulldogs, but Chikayo flies in with a missile kick. Clipped to Team GAEA just charging in on them and hitting a Doomsday Device on Chikayo- Sugar saves. Hart Attack gets two and Chikayo actually does the “Bret Hart Goldbricking”, faking dead-weight and then popping up with a rollup for two and escaping.
Meiko & Sugar fight and scrap, Meiko flying off onto knees, but Sugar goes for a run-up flying back elbow and misses by a MILE, unable to even hit with an outstretched arm! Right on a close-up, too, haha. And they sell that for two! Kato brains Meiko by mistake and she eats a sandwich missile kick and a Rocket Launcher ass slam- Kato saves! Meiko hits a Fujiwara armbar reversal and a frog splash for two- Chikayo saves. Kato hits the rolling firemans on Sugar but Chikayo flies onto her spine- Meiko takes her out and it’s just Sugar/Kato now. Sugar snaps on a vicious legbar and an Oklahoma Stampede of all things, but Meiko stops her up top and Kato hits her with the Kamikaze Bomb (fireman’s roll off the second rope) for three (9:58 of 18:57)! Kato & Meiko win the AAAW Jr. Tag Titles!!
Very high-paced match, cutting off all the weardown stuff and just getting right to the big spots and the long finisher surge of everyone breaking up pins off of double-teams and big moves. You miss some of the flow and “character” that way, but what we got did feel like the ***1/2 Lorefice gave it. It was interesting how less cheat-y OZ were without their boss, Ozaki, around, as it was more of the usual pin-breaks. At least this rewards the top trainees for their hard work and gives the fans a feel-good ending.
Rating: *** (seemed very good for the 10 minutes we got)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCu1A25h3Tw
ALL ASIA ATHLETE WOMEN’S WORLD TITLE:
FINAL MATCH:
CHIGUSA NAGAYO vs. DEVIL MASAMI:
* And now GAEA Japan has their own World Title- I do not believe it having the opposite name of AJW’s WWWA World Title was a mistake. This would be the “All Asia Athlete Women’s World” Title. It’s kinda funny that it’s Chigusa vs. Devil, who doesn’t work here (yet), but GAEA’s next top star is KAORU, who is in no way capable of beating the boss. Chigusa’s gear is so shiny and covered in straps she looks like an Image Comics character, mostly in black with red & gold stars, while Devil’s in mostly black with some frill.
Devil, because she’s awesome, shoos Chigusa away from starting the match early, then charges her from behind. They charge into each other repeatedly, both taking damage, then Devil wins a slugfest and strangles her, then poses on her and blows kisses to the crowd. Haha, nobody plays to the cheap seats like Devil. Clipped to her hitting a big powerbomb for two. She preps a huge move but just gets sweep-kicked when she charges- Chigusa punts her to death (close-up right on the “dead-stare” eye), but Devil comes to life and reverses the sleeper, but Chigusa just does it again- Devil makes the ropes. Chigusa is interestingly drawing quite a few boos here from a crowd that might not know her. Both look totally wiped out as Chigusa kicks Devil’s head off, but her running powerbomb fails- Devil actually starts firing up after more kicks and clobbers her down, hitting a Ligerbomb for two. Chigusa reverses for two and throws more kicks and a Razor’s Edge for two. Devil’s kick-counter is itself countered and Chigusa Razor’s Edges her again for two. Devil catches her off the ropes with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, but her fire just gets her kicked in the head a few more times and a powerbomb with a jacknife pin gets her at (7:07 of 14:59 shown)- Chigusa is the inaugural AAAW World Champion!
I’m… not really digging Main Event Chigusa, who’s a great seller but just relies on the same three moves over and over again, so matches just end up this big spamming of head kicks, sleeperholds and powerbombs. The first should be easy to dodge, the second are boring as hell and overly-sold, and the other is Communal Joshi Offense. They at least have good timing and a natural sense of when to reverse stuff, with Devil appropriately floundering around with each kick and acting stunned (NOBODY does the “glassy-eyed death sell” like Devil!). And of course we’re missing half of this anyways.
Rating: **1/4 (fine enough abridged match- looked like it might have been ***+ in whole)
So that’s GAEA’s first show with title matches! Too bad it’s in such short supply in terms of matches being shown, but it shows a promotion finally enacting long-form angles and Title defenses as part of its milieu, which is healthier than “Random shows with whichever invaders we can find”.