Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan’s 3rd Anniversary Show

GAEA JAPAN THIRD ANNIVERSARY SHOW:
(April 19th 1998)
* Hey look! GAEA’s third anniversary! This is a good way to assess things, as by this point most of the First Class has turned into good workers, but as yet still don’t have the credibility to truly press the veterans. GAEA itself has grown, though- initially the vets were just Chigusa (the top wrestler) and KAORU, but now Toshiyo Yamada AND Akira Hokuto have shown up. Hokuto is often injured and wrestling at half-speed still, and is not the draw she once was, but both make the promotion a bit healthier. Yamada’s feud with KAORU has ended and both are sorta on that same “below Chigusa” tier.

This show features Chigusa’s heel character “Zero” (UGH), FMW’s Bad Nurse Nakamura, a KAORU/Yamada team against the invading heel super-stable from LLPW, and a “600 Seconds” tournament for the First Class, where matches have a 600 second time limit! And after winning THREE MATCHES, the winner becomes Chigusa’s partner against a Super-Veteran squad of Aja Kong & Mayumi Ozaki, who are a new alliance!

ZERO (GAEA) vs. BAD NURSE NAKAMURA (FMW):
* OH GOD DAMMIT WE’RE NOT DONE WITH ZERO YET. Yes, Chigusa’s evil heel character returns, complete with black & purple lighting all over the place. At least her minion Zera has returned to her home planet or whatever. Bad Nurse is an FMW heel- the villainous persona of Nurse Nakamura. Both are in mostly dark clothing, with Zero packing the silver & black facepaint. There’s also weird Halloween-ish “howling” going on over the arena while this is going on.

Nurse greets Zero with a giant polearm, jamming her with it and coming off the top rope, but Zero no-sells it and uses THE CLAW~~ in the corner, hauls her down to the mat, and hits the GAEA MDK Sleeper for the Knock-Out win at (0:46). Yes, really. Those poor fans, haha. Zero picks up Bad Nurse’s dead body and carries it to the back, then to the outdoors portion of Hakata Starlanes, dumping Nurse on the ground and laying a miniature crucifix on her.

Rating: DUD (seriously when does Chigusa stop doing this?)

REVENGE?! RETALIATION!?:
KAORU & TOSHIYO YAMADA vs. G-MAX (Eagle Sawai & Michiko Nagashima, w/ Sari Okino) (LLPW):
* G-Max, the super-heel stable made up of the top heels of FMW, JD’ & LLPW, is back! They’ve invaded all the promotions possible, and now Eagle takes her lead goon against KAORU & Yamada, who have only recently made up after feuding for much of 1997. KAORU’s in purple, Yamada’s in the same, Eagle’s in red & black, and Michiko’s in white tiger stripes with LOTS of ribbons.

KAORU hits her high Thesz press on Eagle, who quickly batters Yamada and sets up Michiko’s flying attack. Okino the goon freely cheats and they hang Yamada in the corner for all three of them to charge in on her. They go whipping each other around outside and Yamada goes through a table via Michiko’s plancha. Michiko hits a BIG shot off the apron using the chain to bust Yamada open (she’s seen puffing her cheeks out, which enhances blood flow), and Michiko shows one side the blood (aw, not all four? Watch some Dump Matsumoto matches and learn!) and hits a DDT and works over the cut with the chain. Yamada gets beaten silly with the wooden shinai stick and stumbles around with some great selling, and Michiko backdrop holds her for two. Eagle gets brought in to mop up and hits a lariat, but misses a Vader Bomb and Michiko has to stop Yamada from getting a tag. Another lariat hits, but Yamada gets a “Fuck YOU!” bridge and KAORU springboard dropkicks in- backdrop suplex hits Eagle and Yamada finally tags…. but KAORU immediately Moonsaults onto Eagle’s knees.

KAORU counts a powerbomb and ignores a stick shot to rana Eagle for two, then a Springboard Moonsault gets two. Eagle blocks the Michinoku Driver but a double-team German gets two on her. Eagle catches a charging KAORU with an uranage and tags out, but Michiko flies off into a dropkick in mid-air. Yamada comes roaring in, blood and all, but Okino leaps up and spits green mist while Michiko gets the chain again and man the blood AND the mist creates a really horrific sight. Michiko gets too cocky, though, and charges into an enzuigiri, but Yamada’s too beat to follow-up right and Michiko DDTs her. Yamada gets a backdrop driver when Michiko overswings with the shinai and it’s PAYBACK TIME- G-Max all take wicked overhand shots with it and Yamada hits the Diving Brain Kick- Eagle saves. KAORU missile kicks Yamada by mistake and both get flattened by Eagle’s double-lariat- KAORU saves after a Powerbomb. Two charging lariats get two on Yamada, but she avoids a powerbomb, takes Michiko’s flying senton, but gets her spinkick reversal for two, but Okino holds her up top for Eagle’s On-The-Shoulder Powerbomb… but Yamada rolls her up out of it for two! Eagle hides the chain behind her back and clobbers Yamada with it, hitting a 2nd-rope dropkick and finally an Assisted Powerbomb for the pin at (11:44 of 14:34 shown).

Pretty much every match of this type you’ve ever seen, except with Yamada & KAORU in it instead of what are frequently lesser workers- Yamada in particular was very good, selling with aplomb by stumbling around, looking dazed, etc.- lots of really hard work to put over the match. Michiko was good yet again, and Eagle did okay in her role- she’s pretty same-y in these bouts with her slow, steady missile kicks and lariats, but a believable “heavy” is a good thing in wrestling. As expected, the 2nd-tier babyfaces lose the match to the cheating heels, maybe setting up something down the road.

Rating: **1/2 (pretty basic, but full of offense for only 12 minutes of TV time and with a good effort by Yamada)

TIME LIMIT 600 SECONDS TOURNAMENT:
FIRST ROUND:
MEIKO SATOMURA vs. SONOKO KATO:
* The two top First Class members go at it- Meiko in red & Kato in blue.

Kato starts off with an Aichi Prefecture Jam, and the two throw kicks until Meiko screams and elbows Kato down for two. Kato gets a sleeper out of a DVD attempt but can’t get her Dragon Suplex, and they stereo-kick each other into a double-down. Kato gets a REALLY high-angle German for two, then swipes Hikari Fukuoka’s Rider Kick (a somersault double-leg), unless that was supposed to be a cannonball, for two. Meiko traps her with an armbreaker attempt and climbs, but is brought down with the Super Rolling Fireman’s, but neither that nor the Dragon Suplex can finish! Meiko gets another armbar attempt and the Death Valley Driver… gets a “Fuck YOU!” bridge-out! The countdown to the Time Limit starts, so they get desperate- Meiko tries again but Kato starts headbutting her and they both fire them off, but Meiko fights her into another DVD for the pin at (4:15 of 9:57) to win the round!

Good, hard-fought stuff here for four minutes- mostly Finisher Trading, but they were sweating so obviously had worked hard. Again, this is kinda what GAEA’s style was shifting towards anyways- I wonder if this tournament was designed to show them that?

Rating: **1/2 (fun bout of trading stuff)

TIME LIMIT 600 SECONDS TOURNAMENT:
FIRST ROUND:
CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA vs. MAKIE NUMAO:
* Hey, it’s Numao again! She’s wearing a black outfit with a red & yellow “X” on it now, and still has her kickpads- she rarely shows up in these things anymore. Chikayo’s in the yellow & blue.

We’re JIP with Numao throwing kicks, including one off Bret’s rope, then a high-angle inverted DDT for two. We’re clipped to Chikayo’s Flying Stomp for two, then Numao misses a boomerang kick and gets out of a German attempt twice, nearly beating Chikayo with a leglock. Numao locks on a nasty-ass Dragon Sleeper and grinds Chikayo down with it, nearly getting the win, then a Flying Enzuiknee gets two. Numao is sensing a win, but misses a ripcord kick and Chikayo uses the under-the-leg grip to pull off a German suplex, then another Flying Stomp gets two. She preps her Perfect Plex finisher, but Numao rolls her up as the count ticks down- nearfall again. She swings back to counter a German but is nearly Perfect Plexed, but hits a DDT as it’s Time Over at (3:23 of 10:00 shown) and neither gets the win.

Another hard-fought one, with Numao impressing me- she had the “angry kickout reaction” down, threw some decent offense, and had solid counters. Consider that she has been mostly ignored on these YouTube videos (probably because she retired early) so she usually jumps up in experience vastly between my exposures to her. I feel like they could have pulled off the upset here, but probably didn’t want a First Class wrestler jobbing to a Second Year quite yet. Chikayo seemed reined in quite a bit (but who knows what she was doing in the 7 minutes prior?).

Rating: ** (another one where someone is throwing everything they have into it, though mostly only one was participating)

TIME LIMIT 600 SECONDS TOURNAMENT:
SEMI-FINALS:
MEIKO SATOMURA vs. TOSHIE UEMATSU:
* We don’t see how Toshie got here.

Meiko starts off kneeing Toshie after resisting a backdrop to the floor, then facelocks her out of a Northern Lights attempt in a nasty bit. Toshie manages to leap off the top rope in a weird crossbody for two, but splats trying a missile kick and Meiko beats her up and hits the Super Cross-Armbreaker. Toshie escapes and tries a slingshot move, but Meiko tries a slingshot armbreaker and Toshie has to bomb her off for two. Meiko whiffs big-time on some kicks and Toshie tags her and hits that missile kick thrice over for two. Meiko knees out of the Northern Lights but Toshie Germans her out of a DVD attempt for two. Things get pretty sloppy as Toshie keeps trying that Northern Lights, but manages her hammerlock small package semi-finisher for two, but charges into another DVD attempt, rolling back but getting re-rolled by Meiko for three at (4:42). A very quick sprint, actually very sloppy and full of whiffed offense- they were probably tired, though I liked how Meiko kept splaying out to avoid Toshie’s big move. Toshie doesn’t seem to be over or credible with the fans at all anymore, unfortunately- her offense has gotten a lot more generic following what I assume are injuries.

Rating: *1/2 (just a quick, sloppy bunch of counters)

TIME LIMIT 600 SECONDS TOURNAMENT:
SEMI-FINALS:
SUGAR SATO vs. SAKURA HIROTA:
* Huh, so these two are here as well.

Sakura actually takes control to start, using restholds- Sugar counters but Sakura USES THE ASS to take back over, but sorta “misses” (it hits enough that the crowd is taken aback when Sugar blows it off- like she was supposed to dodge but couldn’t all the way and it legit hurt). Sugar hits a stun-gun for two after a slapfight, but misses a missile kick and Sakura legholds her. She tries a flying ass attack to a seated Sugar, but Sugar “gets her feet up” (Sakura stops short and it looks REALLY bad) and gets rolled up for two. She still manages some legholds, but Sugar counters her and misses a flying back elbow (slipping on the way up as this is going off the rails). Sakura lands on her feet from a powerbomb attempt and spams BACKFISTS, getting 2.8! The crowd is INTO that! Both do backfists and it’s a double-down, and Sakura first backfists her off the top (!), but just stands there so a bloody-nosed Sugar can facecrusher her off. An emphatic Folding Powerbomb… gets two! Sakura with the classic “rookie kickout of big move”! Sakura manages two MORE backfists and wraps Sugar up so well she actually almost gets shoot-pinned despite attempting to kick out. Sakura tries an armbar and both have their backfists blocked, but Sugar manages a big Ligerbomb to finally stop Sakura at (7:42).

This was a MESS, haha. Just sloppy, barely-hit moves and all this stuff, yet you can see why they’re focusing on Sakura so hard, as she has actual charisma and gets the fans behind her no matter how bad she is. Her spammed backfists were a fun bit, as messy as the rest of it was.

Rating: ** (started off looking truly awful, but they fought it into a good match with the backfist series and the counters)

TIME LIMIT 600 SECONDS TOURNAMENT:
FINALS:
SUGAR SATO vs. MEIKO SATOMURA:
* Arguably the two best of the First Class are our finalists! Meiko’s been beat to hell by top-tier competition, while Sugar got bloodied last match by Sakura.

Meiko starts hot, but misses and takes a facecrusher into a missile kick for two. Meiko fails her Super Cross-Armbreaker but wisely just bails so Sugar can’t follow up, drawing laughter from the crowd. Meiko catches her with a boomerang elbow but gets her leg worked until she hits another Super Armbar- both fire wild with strikes in a great bit that shows their exhaustion and desperation, then Sugar hits a BIG backfist and Meiko is toast. She’s barely up at “7” and Sugar wisely pounces immediately, throwing a bunch of stuff and backfisting her again for two. She attempts her run-up flying elbow, but right on cue Meiko catches her in the cross-armbreaker- called that. Meiko locks on another nasty hold, then they botch a DVD and Meiko does a proper one for two. Meiko roars for energy, but Sugar pops up and backfists her into the Folding Powerbomb for two. Both sell the accumulated damage, and Meiko can only hit an elbow for two in a desperation move- her DVD is countered to the Ligerbomb- two! Sugar keeps trying for powerbombs but every time Meiko uppercuts her, then eventually ducks a backfist and lands another Death Valley Driver for the three at (6:38), finally winning the tournament!

This was two totally-exhausted kids going all-out, so it was sloppy and scrappy as you might expect. Had good energy and character but was a shitshow in parts because of how loose they were getting with move execution. We’ve also kind of hit this point where the finishers aren’t over because it’s established that every youngster can kick out of finishers 2-3 times before one finally works. Like, Meiko’s big move is the DVD, and she’s hitting it 2 times per match now.

Rating: ** (lots of energy and effort but they were tired and it showed)

CHIGUSA NAGAYO & MEIKO SATOMURA (GAEA) vs. AJA KONG & MAYUMI OZAKI (ARSION & Freelance):
* Another hell of a Dream Match here, as Chigusa takes her Mini-Chigusa up against rival main eventers- Aja Kong, the top wrestler of upstart company ARSION and Zenjo legend, and Ozaki, the demon bitch from hell who leads OZ Academy and causes constant upheavals in Chigusa’s beloved GAEA! But Meiko’s already fought three times and I can’t imagine she’ll be much help. Aja’s in blue & black, Ozaki’s in red & black, and the GAEA squad are in red.

Chigusa immediately avalanches Aja & Ozaki in the corner, but Aja just clotheslines Meiko to death and Ozaki nails Chigusa into Aja’s DVD for two. Meiko springs to life and stops another and actually hauls AJA up onto her shoulders, but Ozaki stops that and hits a facecrusher & DDTs on Chigusa. Meiko pays back her interference and Chigusa clotheslines Ozaki over the ropes- Meiko gets her windmill elbow but misses a second and has to play defense on Oz’s various moves before just getting kneed in the nose. Chigusa nails her own rookie by mistake, but Meiko does the “no-sells big move to hit submission” thing after Ozaki powerbombs her, snapping to an armbar on the count of “1”. Meiko gets a Northern Lights suplex for two, but splashes onto feet (slipping first so Chigusa “saves” it by trying to hold Oz down). She actually knocks the veterans silly with counterstrikes, but Chigusa accidentally nails her AGAIN and Aja flattens both opponents with her oil can- Backdrop Driver gets two on Meiko, but she manages the Super Cross-Armbreaker and Aja is AGAIN the best person at selling that, manically flailing around and needing Ozaki to save her.

Then a tired Meiko instructs Chigusa to help, and CHIGUSA hits the Death Valley Driver on Aja! And Meiko finally lands her own, then Chigusa powerbombs her onto Aja for two! Aja’s so beaten down she collapses on a whip… but springs to life and URAKEN Meiko! URAKEN Chigusa! Chigusa gets sleepered down and they hit a turning splash/second-rope splash for two. Ozaki gets a Ligerbomb and the Tequila Sunrise (dragon/tiger suplex) for two-counts, but charges into Chigusa’s Running Razor’s Edge and Aja has to SLAM Meiko into the pile to break up the pin. Aja hits a Brainbuster on Chigusa but Meiko Germans Ozaki to draw them even, and Chigusa lands a vicious powerbomb for two. Aja dumps Meiko to the floor and Urakens Chigusa in the back of the head out of a powerbomb “attempt” (Ozaki was just hanging upside-down), then deals with Meiko again while Oz spams backfists to hold Chigusa down for the pin at (9:26). The invaders win! Aja & Ozaki cut a promo after the match and celebrate OZ Academy’s kids (Chikayo & Sugar). Apparently this is not the formation of Super-Star Unit (GAEA’s future big heel stable) like I thought, though.

This was very much in the vein of “GAEA Sprints”, with almost no build and nothing but big moves. Meiko was appropriately tired but got to look good avoiding big moves and doing little comebacks. The DVD spot feels like it should have been bigger, but DID get a good reaction. But these “sprints”, as much as they’re crammed full of offense (two paragraphs to describe a nine-minute match!) to “feel” like full matches, never build up on the stories and sub-stories that can make up a good pro wrestling match, and just come off like BeamSpam- throwing out a million moves so any one move doesn’t really stand out that much. No build and no emotion. Chigusa being super-sloppy and doing the same old stuff isn’t helping- there’s not much effort from her and MEIKO, who’d already wrestled thrice, had to do the lion’s share. This came off like what I fear happens later- the “hey, easy money” era of quickie joshi matches.

Rating: **1/2 (fine- good even- but nowhere near what it could be with 8 minutes more time and some real storytelling potential, especially with these four)

So that’s it for the Third Anniversary! If Meiko wasn’t set up as “Best of the First Class” before, she definitely is now, with Sugar right behind her. Kato & Chikayo are kind of being forgotten and set aside, and god knows where Toshie is.