Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan in Winter 1998!

GAEA JAPAN (November to December 1998):
* We’re clearing out to the end of the year! Time for some more GAEA Japan! And we end the year with a BIG angle, as the formation of a new Super-Heel Army occurs and Chigusa faces more and more heartbreak!

KAORU & RINA ISHII vs. MEIKO SATOMURA & TOSHIE UEMATSU:
* It’s the Class of 95 against a veteran and a comparative rookie- if Meiko/Toshie can single out Rina they’ll win, but KAORU can probably beat either, especially Toshie. Meiko’s in red, Toshie green, Rina orange & KAORU powder blue.

Meiko dominates Rina to start, trying to toss her to KAORU for a tag, but the rookie gets pissy at this and fires back, hitting a ropewalk armdrag until splashing onto knees. KAORU helps Rina with some flying stomps, but gets plancha’d by accident trying to set up a dive. KAORU catches Meiko’s rana with a reverse-hold boston crab but gets Pelé kicked for two, then things start getting really clunky as they’re just kinda bopping each other around. Toshie fires off a bunch of knee variations but gets caught in a pretty sweet swinging DDT that pops Korakuen Hall, but gets a German for two when Rina accidentally missile kicks her partner, only to miss the Goo Punch and take a Brainbuster- Meiko saves. Rina gets a whoopie cushion, but KAORU has to save her from Meiko’s DVD and then the Super Cross-Armbreaker. Rina can’t get a superplex so KAORU does, then Rina gets a BIG flying senton and Toshie saves. Toshie Germans Rina while Meiko is powerbombing her in a unique spot, and the Goo Punch to Death Valley Driver finishes her at (8:44 of 17:24 shown). Toshie & KAORU have to be pulled apart after the match, getting into it.

Pretty bog-standard match, getting pretty clunky when Toshie was in, as if she’s unsure of what to do or how to manage anymore. It’s really kinda weird. Like her sense for wrestling went as her knees did. The bulk of the match came off as “teaching Rina Ishii how to wrestle”, as she’s in a lot of spots, double-teams, gets a ton of flying moves (4-5 moves off the top rope!) and is part of the finish, as if they’re throwing her into the deep end but also getting the more well-rounded wrestlers to teach her.

Rating: ** (basic fine GAEA match with some ugly bits)

Two parts of “Highlights of Sakura Hirota”. aka mostly goofy comedy bits, saying funny things in submission holds to pop the fans, selling in weird ways, getting stuck in the ropes, and once beating Makie Numao in seconds by hitting her with a surprise backfist out of the opening match handshake! Toshiyo Yamada and Mayumi Ozaki handily beat her in separate matches, though. In a comedic battle royal (joshi loves those), Chigusa & Ozaki lose due to pileups, and when Oz comes in for revenge on Sakura, she accidentally nails Chikayo Nagashima, the last other woman left, with her backfist and Sakura wins!

AJA KONG (ARSION) vs. TOSHIYO YAMADA (GAEA):
* Okay, wow! It’s a LONG singles match between two of the top stars of 1992 AJW, but it’s Aja as the top star of ARSION and Yamada as an upper-mid person in GAEA, with no main event credibility. Both are wearing purple- Aja’s is dark and adds black, Yamada’s is pastel and adds white.

It’s a slow lockup to start, Yamada catching Aja with a backdrop suplex that Aja sells as a big shoulder injury, causing her to bail and put the move over. Aja fights for an opening and hits the Vader Attack, then wins a kick war with a headbutt, then methodically Yamada her over and no-sells a bunch, then begins a beatdown in the stands. This goes on a WHILE, Aja launching chairs, a metal gate, then a guardrail, shoving Yamada off a berm while it’s wrapped around her arm, then launches chairs at THAT and waits her out in the ring to start the beating again. Yamada’s German reversal only gets one and she’s lariated after another strike war as this is MASSIVELY one-sided, and she ducks an uraken only to be slapped down for two. A weak comeback leads to a Yamada somersault dive to the floor (!), but she soon flies off into a kick and Aja backdrop drivers her, then easily slaps down Yamada’s attempts at leaping kicks. Yamada FINALLY gets a comeback with a second “chest-beating” whip leading to the spinkick, but she immediately goes for her finisher like a moron and gets rolled up, then hit with the Brainbuster for two. But Aja misses the Uraken and an enzuigiri brings her down, resulting in a double-down.

Aja is up first and puts Yamada up top, but Yamada rolls over her, hits the mat and uses the Gory Bomb from there, resulting in a bridging electric chair drop for two. She tries the Reverse Gory Bomb properly, but Aja gets out and seems to change her mind about what move to do a few times before hitting a German, but Yamada stuns her out of the Uraken set-up and the Diving Brain Kick brings her down. But she can’t follow-up and gets dumped trying a kick, and Aja HITS A DIVE, then rolls Yamada in and hits an Uraken on the top rope to set up the Avalanche Waterwheel Drop… for two! Aja can’t believe this shit, and three Urakens are dodged & blocked and an ax kick gets two on her- Yamada’s still dazed, so Aja tries a thing but ends up Gory Bombed! But it’s a crappy short one so Yamada loses the bridge and goes for it again, hitting it true and clean for 2.9! The crowd FINALLY bought a Yamada near-fall! But Aja trips her from the ground and hits La Majistral of all things for two, and catches her with a backhand after the Uraken misses- Yamada kicks out and gets FIRED UP… but a proper Uraken hits her. For two! Dude holy hell. So Aja gets flustered, pulls off the gloves, pounds her fist, then hits another Uraken and desperately holds Yamada down for the three (19:05), having exhausted all other options.

Well that got a bit heated. This initially felt like Aja running through the “Aja Match Template” with extreme prejudice, dominating basically the entire time until Yamada’s comeback at the 12-minute point, which made it feel like Yamada was just being carried versus being an equal partner. Kind of disappointing, as the match time had me thinking they were gonna aim for “the last great Yamada match” or really make the most of her, but it was pretty well just her getting her big moves in the end. Though Aja hitting the Brainbuster, Uraken-to-Waterwheel Drop, Uraken, etc. all for kickouts makes it seem like she’s trying to put her over THAT way, and Yamada hits her finisher twice for a close near-fall and more. They did pull out the manic attempts at pinfalls in the last few minutes of the match, but they had to sacrifice all their finishers to do it and Aja had to go gloves-free to REALLY put Yamada down.

Rating: ***1/2 (they fought HARD with all their big stuff to get to that point, and had a pretty basic “filler” match for 12 of those 19 minutes, but they still pretty much did it)

DEC. 27th:
* A month later, we get one more match before GAEA is out for the year.

AJA KONG & MAYUMI OZAKI vs. TOSHIYO YAMADA & MEIKO SATOMURA:
* The tag champs take on Yamada (who gets one more crack at Aja) & Meiko. Generational Chigusa Clones!

We’re JIP with Aja using her oil can on Meiko, then works a cut and hits a backdrop driver for two. Ozaki keeps up the beating and a powerbomb gets two. Ligerbomb gets two- Yamada saves. Aja holds off Yamada while Oz tries to finish, but the Tequila Sunrise is reversed to a snap Death Valley Driver for two! Ozaki catches her staggering with a backfist for two, and Yamada has to save after Aja’s Brainbuster. Yamada sets up a BIG German and gets a spinkick, enzuigiri and Diving Brain Kick for a big two-count. But Ozaki stops the Gory Bomb and now it’s chair-tossing time on the floor for the standard spot, even using the same weapons as the Aja/Yamada match! Aja misses the Uraken but does the backswing again for two, then Yamada SMOKES Ozaki with a kick when she tries her own urakens- the Gory Bomb is countered but she gets a German. Everyone gets piled up in Aja’s corner as everyone’s taking swings with stuff, and Oz finally bullrushes Meiko down with an uraken for two. Aja superplexes Oz onto Meiko but Yamada breaks up the pin, so Aja piledrives her through a ringside table and the Tequila Sunrise (tiger/dragon suplex) finishes Meiko in the ring at (10:33 shown of 16:15). And then, during the post-match staredown… in comes LIONESS ASUKA, and the JD’ top wrestler stares down her old Crush Gals partner Chigusa Nagayo! Chigusa looks down hesitantly as the crowd screams in fear- could the CRUSH GALS EXPLODE? Wait for the video down below to see!

A very by-the-numbers tag match, with the standard spots, fighting for stuff, “Boy Meiko has a lot of spirit” beatdowns, the crowd brawl, etc. I do like all the finisher attempts, as it puts over the moves to have people repeatedly try for them and have them countered, and some of the moves were pretty good (I loved Yamada’s sweep-kicking Ozaki’s hands into her own face when she tried her double-arm uraken variant). But overall, it’s just very typical.

Rating: **1/4 (I feel like if you’ve seen one of these, you’ve seen them all)

So Lioness stares at Chigusa, who goes to her old partner and best friend from the 1980s to shake hands… and Lioness just walks right on by and fistbumps OZAKI AND AJA, as indeed Asuka has allied with the cruel invaders of GAEA Japan, shattering Chigusa’s heart yet again! Chigusa’s heartbroken, yet stoic expression is really something. Chigusa moves Meiko’s dead body out of harm’s way… then snaps and charges her former friend! KAORU & Yamada have to pull it apart, but Aja talks shit on the mic again and now Chigusa AND KAORU dive in, and the newly-formed Super Star Unit raises their hands in the ring.

Chigusa’s reaction when her former best friend and partner disses her to join the invaders.

Chigusa is hunched over on the floor by a worried Toshie Uematsu… but quickly charges the heels as they leave ringside, and it ends up being a brawl to the outdoors of Korakuen! And ohhhhhhhhhh shit is that gonna have some effects on GAEA’s 1999.

Next up: Joshi in 1998- the Summation! Then onto 1999!

Joshi Spotlight Master List