Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan in Fall 1998 (Manami Toyota vs. Meiko Satomura)

GAEA JAPAN IN SEPTEMBER 1998:
* It’s more GAEA Japan time, this time with some interpromotional matches, then a new idea featuring a lot of “chain/catch-wrestling” style matches (called “Roman”-style).

This time it’s the bottom quarter of the year. Chigusa’s the AAAW Champion at last, Aja Kong & Mayumi Ozaki are the tag champs, and now we’ve got FMW’s Bad Nurse Nakamura running around doing interpromotional matches. Oh, and MANAMI TOYOTA shows up, here to do her “LOL this rookie SUCKS!” act with Meiko Satomura of all people! That’s right- it’s the first ever match of the joshi legends- Toyota vs. Satomura!

GAEA Roster: Chigusa Nagayo, Devil Masami (sorta), Mayumi Ozaki, Akira Hokuto, Toshiyo Yamada, KAORU, (First Class) Meiko Satomura, Sonoko Kato, Sugar Sato, Chikayo Nagashima, Toshie Uematsu, (Second Class) Meiko Matsumoto, Makie Numao, Sakura Hirota, Hiromi Kato, Rina Ishii, Mizuki Ishii

BAD NURSE NAKAMURA (FMW) vs. MEIKO SATOMURA (GAEA):
* Bad Nurse, a white-faced ghoulish heel from FMW (her babyface persona is RIE), has been moving through GAEA in much of September, beating Sakura Hirota with green mist and a dragon sleeper Sept. 19th, and Chikayo Nagashima with a rollup the next day. Man, these are some SPARSELY attended shows. Sonoko Kato does much better on the 23rd, taking red mist a lot, but using a chain to counter Nakamura’s stick, then using her Dragon Suplex for the win. And… now we see Sept. 5th’s show. Why are they showing the other matches first, lol?

Bad Nurse attacks Meiko immediately before the bell, already slicing her forehead open with a spike. She’s no Dump Matsumoto, but her horror-movie persona is good enough that she puts on the iron claw on a bloodied opponent and then threatens to put her bloody hand on the ref to freak her out. Meiko’s doing her best “I’m bloodied and miserable” while being defiant, using a stick while Bad Nurse keeps acting creepy. She frog splashes onto Nurse’s knees but deflects the stick attack with a chair in a cool bit until getting caught in a Northern Lights suplex for two. Meiko catches her going for the chain and hits the Super Cross-Armbreaker, but Nurse easily rolls out, hits her with the red mist, and a double-arm powerbomb gets two. Meiko blocks a stick and gets her Death Valley Driver, but Nurse chokes her- Meiko turns that into the cross-armbreaker but Nurse uses the stick to get out of it and I’m digging the psychology of reversing good technical wrestling with weapons. Meiko fires back but is “fading” and the ref keeps checking on her, and she charges right into more mist, then another double-arm powerbomb into a cross-armbreaker and is forced to tap out at (7:10 of 11:06 shown). Submitting to her own move! Ah, so humiliating!

Not the worst kinda thing- Bad Nurse can only kinda wrestle “for real” but her horror character is pretty good and legit disconcerting with the freaky makeup and stuff, and it creates some good psychology when it’s Cheating vs. Technical Wrestling, Meiko easily outwrestling her but repeatedly being too inexperienced to deal with the mist (a good “charge-stopper”), having her holds countered with a stick, etc. So I see that Bad Nurse beats Meiko, then two more GAEA girls before Kato gets the big win against her. Not a bad month-long mini-angle.

Rating: **1/2 (perfectly acceptable for what it was)

MANAMI TOYOTA vs. MEIKO SATOMURA:
* TOYOTA THE ROOKIESLAYER IS HERE! So her whole thing since 1997 has been taking on rookies in matches, laughing them off half the time, then begrudgingly selling to “put them over”, then easily winning. It’s a funny character, but not exactly the best way to showcase lower-ranked wrestlers because Manami typically sells at half-effort in these bouts (and that’s being generous). And she’s being set up to wrestle Chigusa next month, so you know this is building her up. Both are in red gear for this one. Since Meiko becomes a legend, this becomes a bigger deal in retrospect. And it’s clear the generational divide, as Toyota looks like Godzilla next to her tiny opponent.

We’re JIP with Manami holding a figure-four and pointing at Meiko like “lol, you should give up cuz you SUUUUUUUUCK”, which pays off when she starts screaming and whining once it’s reversed. They trade off on that a bit, then Manami laughs off some strikes, only to go “OWWWWWW…” off of a running one, then gets dropped for two. Okay, she’s getting the “sell the THIRD move” stuff down now. Meiko stays on her a bit, but Manami quickly grows disinterested and crushes her with missile dropkicks, teases a dive, then takes her lightly again and her next missile attempt sees her blasted off the top and to the floor. Meiko follows with a huge flying elbow and beats on her some more, revealing a big cut by her left eye, trickling blood all the way down her face- that flying elbow resulted in some head-to-head contact.

Manami catches a bleeding Meiko with the rolling cradle and dumps her off the top repeatedly, following with a cannonball to the floor, but Meiko cross-armbreakers her off the apron. Both do flying moves onto feet, Meiko hits an NL suplex for two, but Manami counters her own counter to a deadlift Bridging German, and the Ocean Cyclone Suplex… is countered to the DVD for two! Manami counters the Super Cross-Armbreaker with the Moonsault for two, but the JOCS is countered again to an armbar, and she has to counter to another German. Manami gets a missile kick to the back of the head and the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex finally finishes at (10:47 of 18:05 shown), looking amused at the end. Well Meiko got ONE near-fall, at least. Manami checks on her and then bows to the fans and takes her leave.

Toyota’s effort-level could be iffy in these “Manami vs. Rookie” matches, as she’d be bored selling and just make quick comebacks while laughing off her opponent too much, but thankfully she put in some effort here. She’d act shitty, laugh off Meiko, then almost immediately get her comeuppance, repeatedly feeding comebacks by turning her back or getting cocky doing the same move again and paying for it. She got a handful of big suplexes, flying moves and more, Meiko getting out of all of it, and had her own finish countered to the DVD for our one near-fall. The submissions weren’t sold quite as much (but the commentary here drowns out the arena so it’s hard to tell the reactions or selling we’re getting, but Manami certainly wasn’t MOVING like someone desperate to escape). Overall it was mostly okay and a solid showcase of Manami’s current moveset (which is doing less springboards and more suplexes), but Meiko didn’t press Manami enough- typically in these matches there should be more flash-pins because those typically get pops for last-ditch kickouts and the fans actually get into them, anticipating flukes (NOBODY thinks a single DVD from Meiko is gonna pin Toyota at this point). Of course we only get like 60% of it.

Rating: **1/2 (fine but not spectacular- good Toyota offense and half-decent selling, but less manic selling or desperate pins)

Tatsumi Fujinami enters the GAEA Japan dojo to see a demonstration of their techniques.

And that’s all for this one! They’re building up to some stuff coming later, so it’s just a pair of interpromotional Meiko Satomura showcases. Onto October’s shows!

GAEA JAPAN IN OCTOBER 1998:
* It’s a pair of Sonoko Kato showcases, then Chigusa vs. Maiko Matsumoto and a final Toshiyo Yamada vs. Mayumi Ozaki match!

CHIGUSA NAGAYO vs. SONOKO KATO:
(Oct. 3rd)
* It’s the boss & Champion vs. Kato, one of her top trainees. This is said to be “Roman-style”, which I assume means Greco-Roman/amateur-style. This is a VERY sparsely-attended gym show.

They do a “they’re even” sequence, but quickly hit the mat as Chigusa powers Kato down, then fights for a hammerlock in various positions. The matwork continues through multiple rope-breaks, doing good catch-wrestling- Kato’s speed & agility sometimes counters Chigusa’s power & experience advantage, often with kip-ups and then snapping on holds and cranking on them. Things get a bit more heated halfway through when Kato counters a whip with some spinning elbows vs. Chigusa’s chops, though this part ends up with some odd “stop & start” as it looks like they’re improvising and taking a second to think of stuff. Kato eats a big lariat but actually doesn’t leave her feet, fighting for suplexes before Chigusa leglocks her. Chigusa hits her with a tombstone, but it’s the GAEA NO-SELL, and Kato ankle-locks her for a while. They bridge up out of moves and Chigusa swats her with a palm strike, but Kato pops up after a German and Germans Chigusa, then hits the Dragon Suplex, but now CHIGUSA pops up (oh god dammit), but Kato manages to unleash the SPINNING TOE HOLD of all things, earning a fan pop from all those Dory Funk fanboys, but Chigusa finally rolls her into a small package for the pin at (12:20) in a “Bret Hart” kind of ending! Chigusa sells the ankle as particularly agonized at the end.

A very interesting, if not exactly exciting, kind of match, utilizing a mix of old-school wrestling stuff like catch-wrestling (ie. countering holds organically instead of just the “fight to the ropes”, often shifting position or momentum to get your own hold). Chigusa’s actually very fluid at it, unlike her more clumsy usual self. Kato was good to go, but got a bit held up once it turned to strikes, and then they had to wreck things by randomly popping up from all the big moves again.

Rating: **1/2 (not what I want ALL wrestling to be, but it’s a fun diversity thing- GAEA doing the “trying stuff out” thing again)

SONOKO KATO vs. MAIKO MATSUMOTO:
(Oct. 4th)
* The next day has Kato doing another “Roman”-style match, this one against “Second Class” wrestler Maiko, who still isn’t being elevated. She’s in brown/yellow.

They lock up slowly to start, Maiko proving she’s stronger repeatedly, but Kato has better technique and usually takes the lead. Maiko actually looks more competent here than in most of her other matches, owing to the simple basics of grappling I think, and she can use her leverage and strength to counter. Though it’s funny because it’s clear from some shots that Kato is MUCH thicker and stronger-looking and Maiko’s just a notch taller. Maiko keeps countering stuff, but Kato sometimes manages armholds. Maiko gets a flash-pin, but ends up in an armhold again, then they get agitated and start slugging away, but Maiko manages her big atomic drop and puts KATO in an armhold, actually having the know-how to use her leg to trap Kato’s because she accidentally rolled her too far into the ropes and didn’t want her breaking it. Kato uses a headlock/sleeper, then a painful-looking spider-hold as she keeps the lead, battering Maiko, but she gets tossed out of another armhold and Maiko works a bow & arrow and Boston crab. Kato reverses the mountain bomb to a BIG German, but charges into Maiko’s Saito Suplex finisher, but Maiko can only think to try a crab again- Kato boots out and finally snags a better armhold after countering another atomic drop, and Maiko has to tap at (14:54).

Another interesting “catch-wrestling” bout with very basic submissions and pin attempts being traded instead of going for the “typical match”- this actually makes Maiko look better than normal, as she can hang with Kato decently at that, and successfully “counter” using leverage and height instead of trying complicated patterns or big moves (which she hasn’t upgraded to yet). Of course all this happens two months before she retires from wrestling forever, lol. That said, the match eventually got a bit dull as it was just “Maiko hits submissions while Kato fights out”, they started repeating sequences (inevitable with newer wrestlers in a LONG match), and finally it’s just a normal match with Maiko trying her few recurring moves and finally gets caught- decent psychology with Kato actually winning with an armhold considering it was the thing she’d been fighting for all match long.

Rating: ** (mostly fine- probably one of Maiko’s better singles matches, though it was kept basic and went on too long)

CHIGUSA NAGAYO vs. MAIKO MATSUMOTO:
(Oct. 10th)
* Maiko gets a shot against the boss now. Their color schemes pretty much match at this point.

More “Roman”-style, this time in a match of power as they try to shove each other around. Chigusa gets a mount and bullies her student, but Maiko counters and starts throwing enough strikes to wear Chigusa down until she no-sells an atomic drop. Maiko’s chops are ignored… to a point, as Chigusa stomps forward but collapses slowly, only to hit a big uranage for two. She counters Maiko a bit, but gets caught in a backbreaker and a rolling leg-roll clutch for two (that was pretty ugly). Chigusa hits a mountain bomb, but Maiko does the GAEA NO-SELL… only to get hooked in a standing neckbreaker hold and she gives it up at (5:58).

Rating: * (a much more simple, short match with Chigusa able to counter Maiko power-for-power, and only sold getting caught a couple of times before just doing a random submission for the win- at least it was a good one)

MAYUMI OZAKI vs. TOSHIYO YAMADA:
(Oct. 29th)
* It’s Ozaki vs. Yamada in a battle of veterans! Maybe they’ll relive the legendary WWWA Tag Title feud of 1993! Yamada’s in purple & white, Ozaki’s in the usual red/black.

We’re JIP with Ozaki taunting Yamada in the ropes, and she throws backists & a Ligerbomb for two. Yamada gets her spinkick for a double-down, then they trade strikes, Yamada weathering the story and hitting a trio of backdrop drivers for two. But she tries The Finisher That Never Hits, and Ozaki reverses to a series of backfists that bring her down for a “7” count. A stunned Yamada still manages another spinkick, but Ozaki victory rolls out of another finisher attempt, and another backfist gets two for Ozaki. Tequila Sunrise (tiger/dragon suplex) gets two, but a second sees Ozaki end up on Yamada’s shoulders for a makeshift version of the Reverse Gory Bomb FINALLY hitting, for two. They trade finisher attempts and Yamada gets another Gory Bomb… for two! Ozaki gets a desperation backfist again, but Yamada jolts up and ax kicks her, scoring a SPINNING Gory Bomb and actually PINS OZAKI at (5:23 of 12:26 shown)! Holy crap, Ozaki almost NEVER jobs solo in GAEA! Even Chigusa hasn’t beat her yet, I think!

A pretty basic, by-the-numbers match for these two, Ozaki throwing her favorite new backfist in sloppy, reckless manner with wild abandon in lieu of actual counters or complicated stuff, and Yamada relying on the spinkick or repeated finisher attempts for all her stuff. To the point where she hits it three friggin’ times to finally win it, coming up with a spinning version. Still, it’s a big surprise ending, as Ozaki usually cheats to win and Yamada is hardly getting a push in GAEA.

Rating: **1/4 (just the most basic trading of stuff, though they put over the desperation to win well enough)

Joshi Spotlight Master List