Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan in July 1999 (Super Star Unit EXPLODES- Nostradamus Begins!)

GAEA JAPAN IN JULY 1999:
* We tick down the summer with a couple other GAEA shows. The first is a TINY-ASS theater show with only two rows on the hard cam. The next is in Korakuen Hall with a gross-ass faded “SSU” mat logo… but one of the most important shows of the year, as the AAAW Tag Champions Aja Kong & Mayumi Ozaki defend against their own Super Star Unit stablemates Chikayo Nagashima & Sugar Sato… and then SSU EXPLODES as we get the formation of the new stable (called “Nostradamus”) from two factions that also both hate GAEA!

CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA vs. TOSHIE UEMATSU:
(July 4th)
* Toshie reps GAEA against the SSU goon, at least switching up the usual Toshie/Sugar feud.

We’re JIP as Chikayo controls with arm stuff, not just with submissions but hitting a FLYING STOMP to it, and Toshie goes all-in on selling it, rolling to the floor and screaming while they desperately try to use that injury-healing spray on her. But Chikayo just punks her out and stretches the arm in the ropes, shoving off the ref and using the spray in Toshie’s EYES, then missile kicks the arm and jujigatames her. Toshie’s doing a good job of selling the arm even when trying to do stuff, like she’s unable to follow-up after countering holds and can’t even hit good shit off the ropes (just doing a flying “whatever” and having to pin while curling up the injured arm). She even tries a clothesline and just collapses in pain while Toshie shrugs off the weak blow and laughs about it, taunting Toshie… who finally just charges in and pummels her to the ground! The ref has to drag her off, and Toshie’s even making sure to hit just a FEW punches with that arm and recoiling back and relying more on the left. A pair of dramatic missile kicks get two, and Toshie starts showing major frustration in being unable to consistently get stuff off (her NL suplex fails), and when she hits a high-angle German, Chikayo does the “kick out into submission hold” and wrenches the arm for a while! Toshie finally thrashes into the ropes, then flips out of the Fisherman’s Buster, but charges in with a lariat and sells the pain when Chikayo blocks… but cleverly counters a submission with a flash-pin for two. But in a heartbreaker, she charges into the Fisherman’s Buster and Chikayo pins her at (7:11 of 15:08 shown).

Good little match! I mean we only got half of it of it but it looks like Toshie, who isn’t as fast as she used to be, is learning more about the mechanics of actually WORKING everything, as she does an entire limb-selling sequence. Her selling is more overwrought and hammy than anything, but it’s legions beyond what a lot of people of similar experience are doing. Chikayo did good with the moves but not so much with the character- she tried, but needs to be a lot more vicious and snarky when she’s doing cool shit like stretching the arm in the ropes and spraying Toshie’s eyes.

Rating: **1/2 (a very good showing for Toshie’s selling abilities and a rare “full-match story” from the 1995 kids where instead of trading moves, they make the match ABOUT something)

LIONESS ASUKA vs. SAKURA HIROTA:
(July 4th)
* The SSU leader, in black, should be expected to demolish the comedy wrestler with the regular bunch of “flash-pin near-falls”.

We start off with comedy right away as Sakura offers a bouquet to Asuka, who seems amused and goes for it, only to get swatted repeatedly with it (openly laughing as she tries to sell), then takes it and whacks Sakura. We settle into the expected stuff- Lioness dominating but occasinally having to deal with Sakura spinning out, and Sakura hits some tight punches to come back, popping Asuka off the ropes for two. Asuka backdrops her and brings in the corner-table, but takes time smashing the ref and ends up in Sakura’s wacky double-chickenwing hold, leading to her bending forwards to knock Sakura’s head into it for some goofy comedy. Blue Thunder Bomb & Giant Swing hit and Sakura’s comically dizzy, missing a bunch of wild shots as Asuka laughs, but BAM! Backfist to the jaw! Asuka keeps resisting her Tequila Sunrise (tiger/dragon suplex) and psyches her out to hit a lariat, but can’t get a powerbomb and the ref just… quietly puts away the table, figuring they’re not gonna use it, haha. A few more comedy spots see Sakura try the scorpion deathlock, Asuka hilariously having to tell her how to do it right as she’s on the ground (“no no- your lead foot goes HERE!”), and immediately turns it into an Anklelock for the submission victory at (7:53 of 11:49 shown).

Pretty much what was expected, but arrogant heel giant Lioness is WAY better at taking Sakura’s comedy than anyone else, as you can buy her as overconfident and amused at this punk trying anything, and she’s a great “buffoon” taking Sakura’s stuff and “getting caught” with things like backfists. The bit with the table is funny- like it just sat there for four minutes and nobody used it anymore so the ref’s like “might as well save GAEA some money…”.

Rating: ** (The Flair/Steamboat of dumb Sakura comedy matches)

LOSER GETS “RIGHTS CONFISCATED”:
MEIKO SATOMURA & SONOKO KATO vs. TOSHIE UEMATSU & RIE:
(July 18)
* Whatever that match stipulation means. It’s the dominant Class of 1995 kids versus Toshie and FMW’s RIE, who I guess is just a GAEA regular? I dunno. This is heavily JIP.

We’re joined with Toshie going up, but getting caught in Kato’s Kamikaze Bomb (super rolling fireman’s) and the frog splash gets two. Kato tries her Dragon Suplex and gets smashed by RIE’s flying knee. But Meiko whips Toshie off the top and Pele kicks her, but Toshie escapes Kato’s Bull’s Poseidon move and punches her, but RIE hits a release tiger driver and Toshie hits her Northern Lights Suplex for two. And after that frenetic bunch of reversals, Meiko & Toshie appear to get lost (“… fuck. What were we doing again?”- it’s unmistakable body language when they stall out and start throwing random kicks, haha). Finally, Toshie & Sonoko get into a dramatic headbutt war on the top rope and Toshie hits a SUPER NL Suplex on her for a dramatic two-count. They’re good at doing the “do a dramatic strike and collapse from the effort” and keep trying finishers with the partners reversing them until another NL suplex gets two. Finally Meiko crushes Toshie with the DVD and a Guillotine Legdrop gets… two! FINALLY Sonoko wins a counter-war and finally lands that Poseidon move for the three (4:50 of 15:19 shown). I guess it’s called “Kowloon’s Gate”.

Dangerously got into “2.9 Wrestling” in the end with a billion kickouts of “sure thing” finishers (once your top-rope moves start only getting two in random cards you might have an issue) but the crowd was buying it and the desperation was pretty intense, girls flopping over in frustration at not getting the pin, etc. At least Kato got the pin after hitting her finisher on the 4th or 5th attempt- building the execution of the move is probably the best way to build your move as credible. Hilariously, RIE barely did ANYTHING as it seems GAEA won’t trust her with shit in there (she was probably doing like 5 minutes of filler offense in the part they didn’t show) so it’s basically just the Sonoko/Toshie fight.

Rating: **1/2 (we got the last half of a WAR in here- dramatic and scrappy with only a few weird bits)

“SUPER HEEL” SAKURA HIROTA vs. KAORI NAKAYAMA:
(July 18)
* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAND we’ve entered the “Sakura as Cosplay Comedy Wrestler” portion of her career. She is STILL DOING THIS in 2024 so it’s neat to finally get there (much as I dread her matches). This time she’s decked out in what is unmistakably a “Super Heel Devil Masami” act with the slow zombie stalking and staring at the ground. She lacks the makeup and her big stick is instead just a broom. The announcer has great delivery by leaning in and going “Super HEEL-oh” to crack up the fans. haha some guy in the stands is there with his mom! Isn’t that nice! I wonder if she was a Chigusa fan back in the… ten years before?

Sakura makes a giant deal out of wrapping up her robe, and the ref is like “WTF?” when she picks up the broom. Humorously, Sakura can’t do the “Super Heel” no-selling routine (Super Heel is an Undertaker rip-off, if you weren’t aware) and instead whines and complains about how much Kaori’s kick hurts, then they do various butt-bumps until Kaori grabs the dirty broom and starts rubbing it on Sakura’s face. Clipped to Kaori missing a moonsault, but Sakura gets tripped out of her comeback and the fans ROAR at that (some fat guy in the front looks like he’s about to die) and Kaori keeps reversing Sakura’s moves, including a sunset bomb with a rana. Kaori lands that moonsault for two, but Sakura counters a fisherman’s-esque suplex with some weak backfists, but her suplex attempt sees Kaori hit the Flair reversal to the… crotch, which Sakura sells like a man who’s nuts have been destroyed. Hey, Mortal Kombat told me that didn’t hurt! Sakura sells so much she lurches over to Kaori, who schoolboys her for the three at (7:29 of 12:58 shown).

Rating: *1/2 (Another goofy Sakura match- here, she didn’t keep up the Super Heel mannerisms throughout, instead just wrestling her normal match full of comedy. Kaori was game, but seems like one of those “Communal Joshi Style” uninteresting workers- the crowd LOVED that comedy, though, busting a gut the whole time while I’m half there like it’s Bobby Hill’s “Tartouf the Wonder Dog” act)

CHIGUSA NAGAYO & TOSHIYO YAMADA vs. SUPER STAR UNIT (Lioness Asuka & Mima Shimoda):
(July 18)
* So it’s tanned, skinny, leveled-up Chigusa Nagayo teaming up with the last/best of the Chigusa Clones, Yamada, against SSU’s leader and it’s primary shitheel! Chigusa’s in her shiny black thing with a black armband, Yamada’s in yellow/black, Asuka’s in black and Shimoda’s in black & pink.

It becomes immediately apparent that things are different when a faster Chigusa spinkicks Asuka in the face and then doesn’t get provoked into punching her from a mount, but Shimoda prevents her deathlock. Yamada gets her lick in, but Asuka repays her kick to the back and Shimoda tears things up and hits a somersault dive to the floor on both GAEA girls. Clipped to the crowd brawl with Chigusa bleeding and the heels showing off the blood, but Yamada stops the Death Lake Driver (tiger superplex) and Chigusa cannonballs Shimoda, only to run into a lariat and get tiger suplexed. Shimoda gets an ax kick and a weak release Death Lake Driver for two (Yamada saves) and Chigusa is selling death. She finally escapes and Yamada cleans up again until a chairshot/ax kick stops that, and a Diving Brain Kick is stopped with a chairshot to the leg. They work her over a bit but Yamada’s counter leads to the dreaded “they both slip off the top” botch and Asuka thankfully just flips herself off the top and eats Chigusa’s crossbody to get SOMETHING out of it.

Yamada/Asuka just kinda wrestle normally for a bit until a ligerbomb gets two for Asuka. Yamada manages to reverse a spot with the “table in the corner” and gets that Brain Kick, but finally the Crush gals just start firing off lariats and no-selling each other defiantly. They keep no-selling until Chigusa gets a really bad DVD (using one hand to keep herself stable instead of cradling Asuka’s head)- Shimoda helps Asuka get a ligerbomb for two. Everyone just starts interfering and pushing each other around but Yamada counters a powerbomb to a big spinkick on Asuka for two. More scrapping leads to Asuka’s blue thunder bomb and a flying stomp onto a table, and Chigusa accidentally nails Yamada and Asuka finishes her with the Towerhacker Bomb (inverted fireman’s to ligerbomb) for the three at (13:48). Lol so even renewed Chigusa still loses to SSU? The former partners scrap again after the match- this ain’t over.

A pretty good in parts, but weirdly-structured match- it’s Chigusa’s big rematch against Asuka but it’s just another “walk and brawl” crowd-fight leading to “Chigusa Sells Again”, and Yamada is there to do most of the “meat” of the match to save the good stuff for later shows, and then Chigusa just comes in later to mop up. The “Crush Gals no-sell each other’s lariats” bit was probably the highlight, but then they just get into a part with a billion move-break-ups and it’s just spamming out scrappy stuff and people running around the ring and occasionally completing moves. Then Asuka just inevitably breaks down the weaker Yamada with move after move for the three as Shimoda keeps locking up the founder.

Rating: **1/2 (another “pretty good in parts but kinda off-structure” GAEA tag)

AAAW TAG TEAM TITLES:
SUPER STAR UNIT (Aja Kong & Mayumi Ozaki) vs. SUPER STAR UNIT (Chikayo Nagashima & Sugar Sato):
* Now THIS is an interesting one- the Aja/Ozaki superteam seems invincible, especially against their subordinates and pin-eaters. As they’re all in the same stable, there’s some drama, too. Last time Aja & Ozaki took on the Class of ’95, then cut the Meiko/Sonoko team’s nuts off with every move, stopping every single comeback they could. Aja’s in black/white, Ozaki red, Chikayo mustard and Sugar white.

Shockingly the kids DOMINATE to start, Sugar actually doing FAT GUY NO-SOLD SHOULDERBLOCK spots to stun a surprised Aja, then they dodge her double-clothesline and knock the vets to the floor! They even win a crowd brawl, but soon Aja sits on Chikayo (who messes up a corner rana first) and Ozaki goes to work, powerbombing her and swinging her around in an inverted facelock. Aja totally flattens Chikayo with an elbowdrop, but she escapes Ozaki and Sugar missile kicks and dragon screws her, preventing any comebacks! But finally the vets just double-team her to death with boots and counter more counters. Aja easily absorbs Sugar’s uraken and lariats her down, but Sugar ducks her uraken and Chikayo flies off with a stomp when Aja goes down, then Sugar lures OZAKI’s uraken into Aja’s head and fires off three of her own to get a two-count. Their Assisted Flying Stomp gets two, and Aja gets her wheelbarrow slam attempt reversed to a good bridging German from Chikayo, impressing the fans! But Chikayo finally flies too close to the sun by trying to lift Aja again and gets drilled, and Aja lariats her inside-out for two- Sugar saves. Ozaki finally controls, kicking around a dead Chikayo and setting off a crowd brawl from the veterans, getting increasingly vicious (chairs are just LAUNCHED at the kids, and Ozaki bounces Chikayo’s head off the wooden stands repeatedly in response to a bite).

This leads to Ozaki powerbombing Chikayo for two, but when Aja tries to superplex Oz onto her, Chikayo moves and Sugar comes in for a ligerbomb! But Oz powerbombs her and Aja backdrop drivers in, then tricks Chikayo in missile-kicking her partner and completes the Brainbuster for two! Aja can’t get a full uraken, and climbing just sees Chikayo toss her off and Sugar hitting a flying stomp as they’re just RELENTLESS on the veterans today, but Chikayo tries a rana and gets running powerbombed into the buckles. Sugar’s urakens go awry as she nails Chikayo and then gets clotheslined, and an Ozaki powerbomb gets two. Chikayo counters another but they’re running out of attempts here- And as I say that, Chikayo counters a Tequila Sunrise and hits her Fisherman’s Buster for two! But Aja blasts her with an oil can for trying a Sunrise of her own and a Ligerbomb gets two, Sugar barely saving. But then she blocks the oil can with her hand and urakens Aja, then Ozaki, and another Buster has Aja BARELY saving, and Chikayo dies on that, screaming and pounding her fists. Aja looks to finish with double Urakens but HITS OZAKI and a THIRD Buster… sees Aja barrrrrely dive in and everyone’s dying now, the fans freaking. Sugar can barely hold Aja back while Chikayo pumps herself up for another go at it, but Ozaki just pops up with an uraken and tries Chikayo’s own move… but the kid flips up over her and does the Beyers Bridge and GETS THE THREE (15:56 of 16:39 shown), Chikayo and Sugar becoming AAAW Tag Team Champions! The kids embrace and the fans freak out at the upset win. Aja’s like “are you fuckin’ kidding me?” and shocked, but Ozaki just kind of goes “hey yeah, they did it. Good job, kids!” and holds her arms out for the girls she recruited two years ago to come in for a group hug. Super Star Unit, the evil heel stable in charge of GAEA, is oddly benevolent here.

A very interesting tag match, as the KIDS controlled nearly the entire match, absorbing veteran offense but countering all their attempts at stopping the onslaught, repeatedly luring them in, grabbing limbs to pull them down, ducking urakens, etc. It was like the veterans were stymied by the strategy and speed of the young ‘uns. Like this was 70/30 for Chikayo/Sugar, which I was NOT expecting- even after the vets started fighting dirty and taking the lead, they’d only be in charge for a minute or two, and were stopped after all their finisher attempts. And then the back third is nearly all Chikayo/Ozaki, with Chikayo hitting three straight Fisherman’s Busters, hopelessly flailing as Aja keeps breaking up the pins and you’re SURE this is gonna be the veterans scoring a big win since they have the most credible finishers, only for Ozaki to get a taste of her own medicine as one of her own tactics- the flash-pin out of a finisher- is used on her and they lose the tag belts.

Rating: **** (a fantastic tag match that shows just how far Sugar & Chikayo have gotten- neither is as “flashy” or as “credible” as Meiko or Sonoko, but they might actually be better at this point- more characterful and not as hammy & tryhard)

NOSTRADAMUS BEGINS:
And we end things with a bunch of promos at the end of the Title Ceremony, as it suddenly shifts to Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo talking shit to each other, the fans roaring and Chigusa clapping at something said. Ozaki says “I’m tired of it, SSU” (that’s what the YouTube channel says!) and actually splits the stable, forming a side-group with herself, Aja, Kaori, Chikayo & Sugar, while Lioness is there with Las Cachorras Orientales on the other side! But then Aja Kong makes a call and out comes AKIRA HOKUTO, who allies with their side! Now suddenly we have a three-way brawl between the armies (SSU, the new Nostradamus, and GAEA)

This was wild, but emblematic of the “Attitude Era” almost, as the big SSU stable, the defining part of six months of GAEA, just splits in half casually in a match featuring two sides that… just join the same side after? It’s kind of odd and out of nowhere (you’d think it’d come via a dramatic LCO vs. Chikayo/Sugar match or something). Especially as Team GAEA keeps fighting SSU and now the stable’s just cut in half with no big victory on GAEA’s part- you’d think THAT could also be the impetus for a split. Instead GAEA is robbed of that win and now it’s just a bunch more matches as GAEA gets its very own Gang Warz feud (thankfully with nobody as hairy as Miguel Perez).