Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan in April 1999

GAEA JAPAN IN APRIL 1999:
* It’s more GAEA Japan! Chigusa Nagayo, boss & booker, has lost ownership of GAEA to hateful traitor Lionses Asuka, and is now booked in humiliating low-end matches! And ohhhhhhhhhh my god now they’re doing the “Welcome to GAEA Japan” thing but it’s Lioness and Super Star Unit (SSU) in the ring doing it, and Chigusa’s out ON THE FLOOR with the rest of the loyalists! The camera of course zooms way in on her and her absolutely dejection, as she’s clearly humiliated and depressed but trying to look strong. Of course one of the kids (probably Uematsu) loses it and tries to charge the ring and is held back and Lioness is like “hey geez” all mock-offended. Mita’s sarcastic “hiiiiiiiiiiiii” wave to the scrubs is the best.

GAEA Roster: Chigusa Nagayo, Akira Hokuto, Toshiyo Yamada, KAORU, (First Class) Meiko Satomura, Sonoko Kato, Toshie Uematsu, (Second Class) Makie Numao, Sakura Hirota, Hiromi Kato, Rina Ishii, Mizuki Ishii
Super Star Unit: Lioness Asuka, Mayumi Ozaki, Aja Kong, Sugar Sato, Chikayo Nagashima

CHIGUSA NAGAYO (GAEA Japan) vs. KAORI NAKAYAMA (SSU):
* Chigusa comes out with the JOBBER’S ENTRANCE of no theme music, looking miserable as she’s made to face “fellow scrub”, the lowest-end member of SSU, Kaori. Who gets theme music and flashing lights and shit while Chigusa gets NOTHING. SSU watches with amusement over by the stands (Shimoda hilariously asking a fan opening candies if she can have one while giant Mita sits like a schoolgirl, hugging her own legs)

Chigusa walks to her corner and of course gets dropkicked in the back and punched in the corner- Kaori ranas out when Chigusa tries to powerbomb her, but gets caught in a double-arm and actually gets submitted at (0:35). Point made- Chigusa is depressed but still too good to lose to a nobody “on her level”, but is just so dejected about it she can’t even celebrate.

Rating: DUD (not even a match)

LIONESS ASUKA (SSU) vs. SONOKO KATO (GAEA Japan):
* It’s set to be Kato vs. Sugar Sato, but WAIT! Lioness interjects and is like “nah I’ll take this one on instead” and plans to beat down Chigusa’s loyalist.

Hilariously, Kato attacks during the intros but gets beat down by Sato’s chair from behind and they gangbeat her with the chair and hit an Assisted Ligerbomb at (0:32) in some total savage unfairness. Thus establishing the stakes- SSU is doing whatever they want and GAEA just has to eat it.

Rating: DUD (another non-match)

CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA (SSU) vs. SAKURA HIROTA (GAEA):
* Our third straight GAEA/SSU match, with orange-clad Chikayo actually making it a real contest against Sakura, in pink.

Standard Sakura template: Chikayo bullies her, Sakura comes back and USES THE ASS, comedy spots, etc. Chikayo trips her up and works submissions, Sakura works flash-pin reversals, Chikayo tries to finish but eats some backfists, but snags one for a big near-fall off a submission. Sakura dodges the Flying Stomp finisher and finally lands a big backfist and then a Half-Nelson/Straightjacket Suplex for a close one, but tries a TOP ROPE version and Chikayo fights free. Sakura backfists her up top and holds her in an inverted fireman’s carry, but Chikayo spins out and ends up with a jujigatame, tapping out Sakura at (8:40) shown. Chikayo keeps on the hold until KAORU comes out and pries her off, and they stare daggers at each other as we’re out.

Every Sakura match ever- comedy spots, clunky actual wrestling, and the other person trying to do a match around her. Not bad in parts, with some clever ways to use her go-to offense as counters and near-falls, but there’s only so much you can do.

Rating: *3/4 (Chikayo did okay with the limitations)

TOSHIE UEMATSU (GAEA) & RIE (FMW) vs. SUGAR SATO & KAORI NAKAYAMA (SSU):
* A 3-minute clip-job here with Uematsu, in her Princess Anna gear, and FMW’s RIE, in a red tank-top & shorts, taking on white-clad Sugar Sato & Nakayama again.

Toshie hits a big missile kick, then hits Kaori with one when she hits the apron, taking a HUGE back bump in the process but still hitting Sugar with a German as RIE piledrivers Kaori on the floor. Enzui-missile kick gets two! So does a RIE flying enzuiknee! Toshie hits a few goo punches into her Arm-Trap Northern Lights Suplex, saved by Kaori. An elaborate series of punch reversals ends with RIE accidentally nailing Toshie, who gets Ligerbombed, RIE saving. Toshie reverses another for two, but a grounded uraken nearly pins her and a BIG deadlift Ligerbomb pins Toshie at (3:00 shown). Wow, big power feat from Sugar there, who got a lot of big kickouts as well.

Rating: N/A (we just got the tail end but they looked good, if a bit clunky when it came to stalling out before the punch reversals)

TOSHIYO YAMADA (GAEA) vs. ETSUKO MITA (SSU):
* Dream Orca EXPLODES with GAEA loyalist Yamada taking on LCO’s Mita! Mita’s now in tasteful bright orange with her top & skirt, and the deepest tan yet seen. Yamada’s in black.

We’re clipped to Yamada firing off a tope con hilo to Mita & Sugar on the floor, then a beating in the stands leading to a backdrop suplex on the damn wooden balcony (OUCH), then another, Mita selling them like KOs. Yamada drags her dead body to the ring for a flying elbow smash, reverses a DVD with a stiff kick, then actually uses the Reverse Gory Bomb, pounding her fist to put over how it didn’t hit right (Mita ate mostly a release version and fell at a weird angle when her balance went way off). Mita hits a Blazing Chop but is slow to capitalize, slumping over in the ropes before eating five straight head-kicks, slowly falling down (the ref checks on her so it does indeed seem like she’s selling for real)- she gets a chair from Sugar to block the Flying Enzuigiri and hits a monster powerbomb on the chair. No count from the ref, so Mita gives her the BIG stink-eye and points at her threateningly, haha. Mita tries a whip instead and of course eats the spinkick reversal, but reverses the Gory Bomb to her DVD… but Yamada tries the GAEA No-Sell (at least staggering to put it over) and does ANOTHER spinkick. Flying Enzuigiri- two! Gory Bomb at a HIGH angle… Mita rolls over backwards using the elevation, getting two! Yamada picks up a slowwwwww dead Mita and gives her some cue, hitting two kicks before charging into a Blazing Chop, Mita holding her down struggling for the three at (5:54 shown)- looks like an audible. Mita sits there a while, looking really bad, then holds up a disbelieving Yamada and spits water in her face before leaving.

This one had some good counters and fun character stuff, but Mita was SO SLOWWWWW for the duration that I know something was up. It wasn’t limping or selling- she was moving through molasses the entire time, almost at a different framerate than Yamada. Concussion (maybe that backdrop on the wood, but she was lolling onto it like she was dead even beforehand)? Sick? Who knows? Looks like Yamada called an audible to just go home at one point.

Rating: **1/4 (actually pretty solid for one person wrestling a dying giant, but Yamada always had nice offense save her finisher)

SUPER STAR UNIT (Lioness Asuka, Mayumi Ozaki & Mima Shimoda) vs. KAORU, MEIKO SATOMURA & SONOKO KATO (GAEA):
* And our Main Event is a long Trios Match between SSU’s hey stars, plus LCO’s Shimoda against KAORU (Chigusa’s #2) and the top two rookies of GAEA- Meiko & Sonoko! KAORU’s in purple, Meiko red & Kato blue. Asuka’s in black, Ozaki’s in a black/red bodysuit & Shimoda’s in red & white.

Team GAEA pounces on SSU from behind before the bell and we’re off! Meiko & Sonoko do a double-karate punch to Asuka, but she lariats them down and her allies do the same to Kato, who then gets her leg worked. Ozaki gets triple-teamed and jackhammered by KAORU, barely selling at all, then KAORU hits her high Thesz presses on Shimoda and a rana on Asuka. Back to Kato taking, but she & Meiko fire back on Asuka, but Kato gets draped across the top rope so Shimoda can fly down with a chairshot. Kato takes and takes, and Shimoda brings her & KAORU down with her falling clothesline, and when they knock Shimoda off the top rope, she flees like a coward so Kato runs into the vets and gets killed again. She’s finally booted over to KAORU, who exchanges Germans with Shimoda and hits a moonsault on Ozaki. An arena brawl ends with Meiko hitting a Pele kick on Oz, but she gets DDT’d out of her DVD and powerbombed for two, then Lioness powerbombs Meiko ONTO her for the same. They hit a triple sandwich kick and then Sugar whips a chair at Meiko right when she attempts a comeback, but she counters another powerbomb and Asuka gets blasted with dropkicks, a flying spin-senton and a guillotine legdrop for two.

Kato gets a good flourish, but is vulnerable and overdoing it so Oz backfists her into Asuka’s lariat. Asuka gets flung into her own table twice, but manages a flying stomp to Kato while she’s UNDER it and hits the Blue Thunder Bomb- Meiko saves, then hits a Pele kick into Kato’s Dragon Suplex for two! Kato’s comeback is ultra-short and she’s back to being kicked around for two-counts, and when KAORU’s in she eats a Backfist/Tiger Suplex for two. Her springboard comeback is stopped by Oz and she takes a triple-Assisted Powerbomb for two. But Ozaki backfists Shimoda and Asuka lariats Ozaki, and the babyfaces hit TRIPLE STEREO FINISHERS, nailing a DVD, Michinoku Driver & Bull’s Poseidon, Shimoda barely kicking out. KAORU unfortuantely moonsaults Kato on the floor, but manages another Michinoku Driver on Shimoda- the heel pileup saves. Backfist/Ax Kick/Rolling Kick nails KAORU, she’s saved, and then she avoids Shimoda’s tiger superplex but takes a somersault ax kick instead. Another Ax Kick gets two, then another finishes at (18:43).

This was kind of a manic match with no flow- the GAEA team wasn’t really as hateful as you might expect, as the vets ran a simple “beat on Kato with basic stuff” match for a long time, then the match kinda descended into random momentum-shifts, like Kato would be getting worked over, then hit a comeback, but instead of tagging out she just goes back to getting killed again- SSU was countering every second move and stuffing them. Even KAORU, who’s a notable spot-bot, was left eating offense left and right, though she’s a poor seller so that wasn’t very great. Meiko was either hurt or not feeling it, as she was barely out there, so it’s effectively 9 minutes on Kato and 9 minutes on KAORU. Since KAORU’s a crap seller that isn’t the best- she just eats offense then eventually reverses and tags out. The “Triple Finisher” spot was good but largely the only real offense GAEA got all match, which is probably the point for the greater angle, which is that SSU now runs GAEA and thus stacks the deck in every way possible. So this is the “darkest moment after the heel win” (Asuka won on a show where SSU went with non-stop losses otherwise, but now that she’s “in charge” they win everything).

Rating: **3/4 (actually PRETTY good but largely ignorable in the greater scheme of things, with the heels just cutting off babyface momentum left and right)

Also, uh, here’s a Neo Ladies match I found that doesn’t otherwise have a “spot” to be posted:

I set it to be shared on the one unique match on this set.

NEO LADIES:
(Jan. 10th 1999)
* So Kyoko Inoue’s struggling league gets its First Anniversary and releases this tape, which is just a “Greatest Hits”, mostly showing clips. Of note is Saya Endo in a tag team match against her former mentors in Las Cachorras Orientales, and she’s pissed at being ignored and left behind. She hits a guillotine legdrop on Mita, foolishly picking her up before “3” for emphasis, but after a somersault guillotine, Shimoda breaks up the tag and Mita just gets up and hits a Death Valley Driver, pulls her up in return, then finishes with another after a 26-minute (!!) match.

KYOKO INOUE & MISAE GENKI (Neo Ladies) vs. YUMIKO HOTTA & NANAE TAKAHASHI (AJW):
* This is a big Neo/Zenjo match, with the two biggest stars leading subordinates against each other. Genki’s been elevated heavily in Neo so far. Kyoko’s in understated pastel pink & neon yellow vertical stripes, Misae’s in a shiny black t-shirt & shorts now, Hotta’s in black & Nanae’s in a white tiger-striped bodysuit. As Nanae seems to be openly attempting to be Kyoko-Lite in what little I’ve seen, this might be fun.

We get heated immediately, with Kyoko ignoring the scrub and taking a shot at Hotta on the apron, taking a well-deserved beating but does the “veteran” thing with Nanae where she only begrudgingly sells for her and whups her down. Genki, also Nanae’s senior in Zenjo, thumps her but Hotta comes in and starts beating on Kyoko in the stands as they dispense all pleasantries. Kyoko throws Hotta through a door, resulting in an annoyed Hotta and the crowd big-time going for Kyoko, who sells being overpowered by Nanae temporarily but tosses her around to huge applause, and now we get Hotta/Genki! Hotta beats on the giant upstart, but gets hauled down, but no-sells several strikes and now it’s Kyoko running in to interfere with stretching. More crowdfighting! Hotta chucks a table at Kyoko! Genki sandbags a slam and whips Nanae down, then Kyoko hits repeater DDTs and stuffs more Nanae offense until Hotta sets up a dive onto both Neo girls. Kyoko climbs and just… stands there so Nanae can superduperplex her, then stuffs a German and lariats her for Genki to get two off a flying elbow. Nanae manages to reverse to some Germans and a Vader Bomb, but Genki gets a chokeslam when she tries a second one (Nanae wrecking the bump by landing on her feet THEN the mat).

Kyoko then sets up a BIG run-up plancha by Genki onto both AJW ladies, but Genki fails to put Nanae away and Hotta takes a shot… but Genki puts her down with the Kick of Fear for two! She tries for her Chokeslam but Nanae WIPES her with a missile kick, so Kyoko charges in with lariats to set up Genki’s powerslam finisher for two on Hotta. We FINALLY get Hotta/Kyoko properly, but Hotta reverses to her Tiger Driver for two, then clipped to a Pyramid Driver (cross-armed ligerbomb) right into her jujigatame, but it’s broken up by Genki. She’s dumped, leaving Kyoko to get a triumphant double-lariat on Team AJW and a Ligerbomb gets two. Kyoko gets caught with an armbar trying her Niagara Driver, but gets an uranage- Nanae flies in with a coffin drop but lands RIGHT on Kyoko’s outstretched feet (ouch) and Hotta saves from the Lariat repeatedly. But Hotta gets distracted putting a cool submission on Genki and so Kyoko finishes with a third at (15:35 of 18:39 shown). Hahah Hotta got distracted by kicking too much ass. Genki talks shit after, Nanae gets in her face, then Kyoko & Hotta brawl again and it’s the traditional postmartch pullapart brawl.

This is about what you’d expect- teasing the Hotta/Kyoko thing and an interpromotional rivalry by giving us vet/upstart repeatedly and only non-official Kyoko/Hotta scraps outside the ring, putting over the hate but not giving us the “real deal” quite yet. Poor Nanae & Genki had to do the “I can quite get them to sell just yet” thing as is tradition, but eventually started hitting big stuff to pay all that off (so it’s not just “lolz veterans are selfish and holding back the new kids” quite yet). Lots of interference and interrupting potential finishes. It was pretty fun, though- Nanae & Genki weren’t believable against the veterans yet, but that played into the match, and Nanae in particular was trying REALLY HARD and sold & bumped well. The finish being “Kyoko hits the same three moves and Hotta saves each time but gets distracted on the third) is pretty funny and unique, especially with Hotta going “oh fuck waiiiiiiiiiiit” and realizing her mistake too late, lol.

Rating: *** (these simpler stories and venom-built tag matches are quite good even ignoring that we didn’t get much Hotta/Kyoko, which wasn’t exactly gonna set the world on fire anyways)