Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan in Feb. 1998

GAEA JAPAN (Feb. 1998):
* It’s time to more GAEA Japan! Their February 1998 was packed with stuff, and also features a very interesting in-ring incident where Chigusa dresses down the 3rd-years for recklessness and teaches them a lesson in front of the paying fans that feels somewhat apt given the Moxley/Fenix mess from a couple weeks back. It also culminates the struggles Toshiyo Yamada & KAORU have been having for the past 6 months or so via a match against OZ Academy, but otherwise this is a LOT of Meiko & Kato in various matches.

MEIKO SATOMURA & SONOKO KATO vs. TOSHIE UEMATSU & SAKURA HIROTA:
(Feb. 10th 1998)
* It’s the two top Third-Years against a close rival (Uematsu) and the rookie they wanna focus on (Sakura), which means Toshie’s got her work cut out for her tonight. Meiko’s red, Kato’s blue, Uematsu’s green & Sakura’s pink.

We’re JIP with the “vets” beating on Sakura until Toshie runs in to help, and everyone takes turns stretching each other and doing charging attacks- ugly bit as Sakura just runs into Meiko, but they turn it into a grab & toss thing and throws her out. Toshie eats the windmill charge but gets missile kicks and there’s a LOT of these ugly bits where people seem to be trying moves all at once. Kato seems to settle it down, beating on Sakura but getting dropkick-sandwiched, but her & Meiko fire off a rolling fireman’s/flying stomp combo. Toshie flies off to stop the pin but they move and she stomps her own partner. Kato just tosses Sakura into a lying-down Meiko’s cross-armbreaker (that’s a new one) but Toshie flies off with a splash to end that. Toshie works a headscissors and missile kicks Kato, setting her up for Sakura’s Flying Ass for two. Sakura actually throws on a Rings of Saturn (her new sorta-finisher) and Meiko has to stop it, but Kato ducks a missile kick and takes forever to set up the Kamikaze Bomb (rolling super fireman’s)- Toshie pulls her off. Kato finishes Sakura with the Dragon Suplex at (12:38 of 18:26 shown).

Kind of an ugly little “house show match”- some effort shown and a LOT of running around, but they weren’t on the same page and it wasn’t all Sakura causing everyone to stumble. They just kinda did the basics until Sakura got singled out and then slowly won.

Rating: ** (kinda fought themselves into it after a while)

MEIKO SATOMURA vs. RINA ISHII:
(Feb. 21st 1998)
* Meiko takes on Ishii, the orange-clad rookie, in a rare singles match. Ishii debuted in 1996 so she’s got a bit of experience, but only lasts till December before quitting.

Ishii immediately hits Meiko with a cartwheel handspring attack and they take turns hitting charging moves on each other. Ishii works Meiko over on the mat, even reversing a mount, but gets cross-armbreakered and scrambles, but keeps using her speed and harries her elder repeatedly. Ishii with another cartwheel, but gets pummeled down after an exchange for two, and Meiko’s finally worn her down enough to keep up consistent attacks- great bit as Ishii tries to use quickness again, but Meiko chases her up to the second rope for her Super-Cross-Armbreaker for a really close call. A leg roll clutch from Ishii is turned into yet another armbreaker, then Meiko flying splashes her for two. Ishii chases her up top and hits a sort of flying grab, and that’s apparently her regular move as she does a Manami Roll into a variant of it shortly after for two. Meiko reverses another leg-roll for two, then catches Ishii trying a Thesz press by hauling her up into the Death Valley Driver for the pin at (11:17). Meiko looks heartbroken it took so long to beat her junior after the match.

Impressive little rookie match here, as Ishii really showed me something with quick reversals and selling that her speed was the key- she had Meiko working defensively nearly all match until she finally pounded Ishii down enough to get a lot of moves in. Meiko had to rely on her cross-armbreakers as often as possible, then reversed another move into the DVD- no mean feat to haul someone as big as you up onto your shoulders in mid-air like that.

Rating: **1/2 (strong psychology for a rookie match!)

CHIGUSA NAGAYO vs. SONOKO KATO:
(Feb. 21st 1998)
* The boss takes on one of her top trainees. These are pretty common GAEA fare, with Chigusa schooling them in typically short matches and giving up just a tad.

Kato stuns Chigusa with a Dragon suplex before the bell, then another, but Chigusa’s too big and Kato can never hold a bridge or get it on straight. She gets another one and keeps trying for more, then cleverly takes Chigusa’s knee out when the boss dares her to try more clotheslines, and hits a somersault neckbreaker. Kato keeps trying for sleepers but Chigusa’s too strong, and Chigusa finally fights her into a powerbomb and a HUGE release German (flipping Kato backwards), finally tearing the fight out of her, and keeps hanging on with a sleeperhold until she suddenly switches grip and PROCURES THE CROSSFACE CHICKENWING at (4:59), Kato tapping quickly. Man, that was agonizing-looking.

Chigusa gives her trainee a strong look after the match, slapping and kicking her, pummeling her while the audience looks uncomfortable. Then MEIKO charges the ring, Chigusa beating the shit out of her too (with what look like knees right to the mush- she’s busted open hardway). Meiko sits there crying and bleeding and Kato looks defeated as a sweaty Chigusa dresses them down and leaves. Very weird. The comments are half “is this real?” and talking about “the kindness of Chigusa” and saying it’s because of those sloppy dragon suplexes, but this looks a lot like a worked shoot to me- Meiko just charging the ring but being easily swatted down and clearly “selling” by bouncing all the way down? Some perfunctory translations from another source kind of indicate that yeah, it was a “Do NOT do things you don’t know how to do!” moment, Chigusa shitting on Kato for those suplexes not being put on right.

Rating: *1/2 (super-quick but well-done psychology-wise- Kato has no chance so just swings for the fences immediately, and Chigusa again has to wait for her moment and finally pummel her down)

CHIGUSA NAGAYO & AKIRA HOKUTO vs. MEIKO SATOMURA & SONOKO KATO:
(Feb. 22nd 1998)
* It’s the top two wrestlers of GAEA against the elite Class of ’95 girls. Meiko has a BIG bruise on her chin from yesterday’s lesson. Akira’s in black for this one, and is pretty recently back from injury I think. The vets offer their hands to the kids, but rescind them and commence to ass-whuppin’.

The kids eat vicious backdrop suplexes and Kato gets double-teamed a WHILE, being messed up by double-moves and a powerbomb, stretched out, etc. A nasty Liontamer/kick to the gut is a highlight- Chigusa throws a weird whirling spinebuster thing for two. Meiko catches Akira on a third “slingshot Kato’s back into her knees” spot and they clubber her, but Chigusa keeps interfering and beating on Meiko. Kato does an ugly double-facecrusher into the ropes but Meiko gets Ligerbombed for two. The kids manage to set up Akira for a Buff Blockbuster & Northern Lights suplex for two, then an assisted flying splash- Meiko does her cross-armbreaker but gets Chigusa’s knee right into her face again, but Kato crushes Chigusa’s leg so the kids each hit Germans on Hokuto for two.

Meiko cleverly spins Hokuto into Chigusa’s roundhouse kick and spikes her with the Death Valley Driver for two- Chigusa drills her to save in the pileup! Akira is crumpled, selling death- another NL suplex gets two, and she just keeps trying them until Chigusa trips her up. Kato lands a Dragon suplex but is wiped out, and Meiko misses a flying move- Chigusa cannonballs her for two, then Kato is hit with a Dangerous Backdrop & Running Razor’s Edge to pay back her interference. Meiko is NL suplexed now, and Akira finishes her with the Northern Lights Bomb at (10:13), completing the slaughter. The kids bawl and shake hands with Chigusa at the end- maybe a lesson learned from the night before?

A different kind of match, almost like it was teaching the kids a lesson from before- much of it was just torturing Kato in slower-moving stuff, and even the comebacks were less quick than normal. Very, very sloppy stuff throughout, though not so much dangerous- just kind of loosey-goosey execution and things like Kato repeatedly missing Hokuto’s knees when she was being flung back, or Chigusa setting up the NL Bomb with a HUGE whiff of an uppercut. The kids were given only the briefest of chances- tangling up Chigusa so they can hit the DVD on her, but Chigusa just kept interfering so they had no chance.

Rating: **1/2 (some good stuff, but mostly pedestrian work)

TOSHIYO YAMADA & KAORU vs. OZ ACADEMY (Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima, w/ Mayumi Ozaki):
(Feb. 22nd 1998)
* It’s Yamada & KAORU again! They replay the fight from their last tag match together, and they’ve repeatedly messed up more stuff since, like a loss to what I think is an LLPW squad. Now they’re up against two 3rd-years who will absolutely wreck them if they can’t get along… but Ozaki is the one person in the world horrible enough to unite arch-enemies. Chikayo’s in yellow/blue, Sugar’s in white, KAORU’s in white & Yamada’s in yellow/black.

We’re JIP with Chikayo hitting a 2nd-Rope German into Sugar’s flying back elbow on KAORU for two- Yamada sets up a moonsault to the outside, but KAORU hits her by accident- oh that’s not gonna help their cohesion. Ozaki adds some chairshots on the floor and Yamada’s bleeding. Team OZ pummels them with chairs around Korakuen and does a Bitch Pose in the ring, then bloodies KAORU and Sugar’s Ligerbomb gets two. They cut off a tag and a flying stomp gets two, then Sugar’s Oklahoma Stampede sets up… her missing another big elbow. KAORU’s finally able to tag out and Sugar, marked by blood, tries to use a chair but KAORU springboard dropkicks her down in a cool bit. And now its the kids’ turn to get beaten all over Korakuen, setting up a missile kick/flipover German into Yamada’s Diving Brain Kick on Sugar for two- Chikayo flies in to save! Chikayo keeps stopping moves, so KAORU misses her Moonsault and Sugar works Yamada’s leg, catching her old “counter a whip with a big kick” with the dragon screw- the vets stop a Doomsday thing but Chikayo manages a missile kick to Yamada.

Everyone gets held up on charges until KAORU nails the kids with a double-missile kick and Brainbusters Sugar- but Akira Hokuto on the floor chairshots her to stop another springboard! Sugar powerbombs KAORU to stop another comeback for two and OZ gets their Tandem Flying Stomp for two. Chikayo missile kicks a chair into her (I mean, kinda) and fires off a few shots with it, gets powerbombed trying a slingshot rana, but dodges a Moonsault and hits a Bridging German for two- good sequence there. But Sugar accidentally clocks her with the backfist to stop her- Sugar nails KAORU too to recover but gets wiped out by Yamada’s spinkick, and Yamada now CHEERS ON KAORU, getting her to recover! KAORU with a Brainbuster on Chikayo for two- “Fuck YOU!” bridge! Ozaki hits the apron to do horrible things, but Yamada provokes a brawl by getting in her face and having Hokuto charge her down, but KAORU takes advantage of the chaos- she ducks Ozaki’s backfist so Chikayo eats it, then finishes her with the Michinoku Driver when Ozaki’s pulled off the apron- the veterans win at (12:49 of 16:03 shown)! Everyone gets in each other’s faces and we’re off.

Overall a very quality match- we miss about 3 minutes but it has a crowd beatdown, a REVENGE crowd beatdown, a good use of KAORU (her Spotmonkey stuff doesn’t hurt in a match that’s mostly about spots and revenge), heels cheating and babyfaces firing back from it. The kids weren’t as credible but built to it by cheating so much, using weapons, then hitting finisher-tier moves at the halfway point to put heat on themselves, and then the veterans scored some good comebacks and got fired up. The chaos at the end behooves matches like this, too.

Rating: ***1/2 (one of the more solid GAEA tags in recent memory)

So that seems to put an end to the Yamada/KAORU feud for now, but Akira Hokuto’s joined up with OZ Academy! That has definite repercussions for the future. These uploads continue the focus on Meiko & Kato, but I’m more and more impressed by Sugar Sato pulling out all this interesting stuff and working up to the level of her class.