Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan Yokohama Double Destiny

GAEA JAPAN- YOKOHAMA DOUBLE DESTINY:
* It’s a HUGE GAEA Japan show! Yokohama Double Destiny sees major matches featuring the central angles of the company, leading up to Lioness Asuka vs. former partner & best friend Chigusa Nagayo in a blood feud over ownership of the company! So last time we saw GAEA Japan and OZ Academy, they were doing shows full of multiwoman matches, Nostradamus was feuding with Super Star Unit, and then Chigusa shows up as ZERO again! Her evil heel persona is apparently what’s needed to take on these goons wrecking her company. The Main Event is Chigusa vs. Lioness Asuka, again for the control of GAEA Japan! Then it’s AAAW World Champion Aja Kong defending against desperate rising star Meiko Satomura to cap off their long feud! And we also have Las Cachorras Orientales vs. their former mentor Akira Hokuto with Mayumi Ozaki! That’s a guaranteed ****+ match! … Right? … RIGHT?

The show opens with each of the three factions getting separate introductions- NSD’s theme is pretty great, going from medieval/classical-esque to modern dance. The big screen in the back splitting open to reveal the wrestlers is pretty epic, especially for the depressing late ’90s joshi scene.

GAEA Roster: Chigusa Nagayo, Mayumi Ozaki, Toshiyo Yamada, KAORU, (First Class) Meiko Satomura, Sonoko Kato, Toshie Uematsu, (Second Class) Makie Numao, Sakura Hirota
Super Star Unit: Lioness Asuka, Las Cachorras Orientales (Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita)
Nostradamus: Mayumi Ozaki, Akira Hokuto, Aja Kong, Sugar Sato, Chikayo Nagashima, Kaori Nakayama

SONOKO KATO vs. TOSHIE UEMATSU:
* So Sonoko’s a GAEA wrestler, but has now betrayed the fold and accepted the mentorship of LIONESS ASUKA, and now she gets a solo match against GAEA loyalist Toshie.

We’re JIP with a quiet crowd and Sonoko dominating- a high kick threatens to wipe Toshie out, but Toshie dropkicks her out of a flying cannonball and a flying splash gets two, Kato threading the kickout to a nasty keylock. Toshie gets out and shoteis Sonoko on the top, turning that into a Double-Wrist Superplex for two. She tries another, but gets caught in the Super Kamikaze Bomb for two. Toshie counters Kowloon’s Gate (sitout deadeye) twice, hits a flash pin & grounded double-wrist suplex, but takes a big high kick, guillotine legdrop & Dragon Suplex for twos, tries a counter, but Sonoko counters the Goo Punch with a kick and wipes her out with a big roundhouse kick- Sonoko wins at (7:33 of 16:49 shown). This was fine, but mostly pretty anemic- the same “kick out of the secondary finishers and reverse the second attempt at a big move” stuff GAEA always does. Kato joining forces with Asuka makes the win even more obvious. Granted we missed almost 2/3 of it.

Rating: **1/2 (fine and inoffensive but very plain-jane by this point)

KAORI NAKAYAMA (Nostradamus) vs. RIE (GAEA):
* Filler, thy name is Kaori/RIE. These two are both from other companies but kind of just ended up in the GAEA net (though Kaori’s in OZ Academy, I guess?). But red-clad RIE, true to her FMW origins, comes out with a stick wrapped in barbed wire! Kaori, in street clothes, is out there with a chain, too!

We’re clipped right to Kaori smashing RIE on a chain, but knocks her into the corner, where RIE grabs the stick and blasts her with it repeatedly. The “Shark Tsuchiya Resthold” of holding the cutting implement against the forehead busts Kaori open and produces a gory bladejob that would get a great reaction if either girl were over. RIE ends up having to basically beg the fans to respond, then shows off the blood and bites away at the cut. Clipped to RIE now grabbing the CHAIN out of the corner and crushing her, then they drag each other to the floor and RIE does a unique counter by whipping a chain at Kaori’s ass to stop an Asai Moonsault. RIE perches on the top after more wire-scraping and just catches a charging Kaori with red mist and a flying knee to the face, only getting two, then they screw up a Manami Roll and RIE hits a tiger driver on the chain and a Flying Enzuiknee… for two? Hahah really? RIE powerbombs Kaori on the chain AND the stick at once, pulls her up, then chain-bombs her again for three at (6:50). Lol, WHAT? This looked like a total bury-job of Kaori, who got almost zero offense and only a bunch of impressive kickouts while an unover RIE just took her apart. A total squash. How does *RIE* earn a squash?

Rating: * (just a squash, really- a bloody squash with a bunch of impressive, if not pretty, moves)

SUPER HEEL SAKURA HIROTA vs. DEVIL MASAMI:
* Billed as Sakura Hirota vs. X, she comes out as Devil Masami’s Undertaker-knockoff gimmick… only to find her opponent is ACTUALLY DEVIL MASAMI. Devil, now a lot plumper and cheery, smiles at a horrified Sakura, just staring slack-jawed in her Crush makeup.

Of course THIS ONE they leave un-clipped. They do comedy spots for a bit, Sakura afraid to lock up, then she tries the Tequila Sunrise (half-nelson suplex), Devil like “WTF are you doing?” considering there’s like a 70-lb. weight difference, then does the “Shihhh!” pose from the manga Osomatsu-kun (a memetic pose from the 1960s that made it all the way to the Godzilla films- that’s why he did that goofy dance that one time), then they do an elaborate fight over Sakura’s silly double-arm submission. Devil fights her into the almighty powerbomb (thankfully not whiplashing her to death this time). They do a bunch of comedy spots to stall (Devil over-selling an uraken, Sakura shaming her into trying a dive then bailing), then Devil knocks her flat-out using her ass as a weapon, Sakura fakes being KO’d some more, then USES THE ASS and hits an uraken for two. Devil murders her with a lariat, then finishes with the Ligerbomb at (9:47). Every Sakura comedy match ever, enhanced a bit by Devil’s cartoonish facial expressions and theatrics.

Rating: * (these are all basically the same match)

NOSTRADAMUS (Mayumi Ozaki & Akira Hokuto) vs. LAS CACHORRAS ORIENTALES (Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita) (SSU):
* OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SHIT it’s Akira vs. her students! LCO were of course the midcard loser whelps Hokuto used to form the original LCO back in 1992, saving their careers in the process, and they developed into a Main Event Heel duo while Hokuto was away getting married & semi-retiring and shit. But now it’s full circle as Hokuto joins Ozaki’s new Nostradamus stable after splitting from SSU, which contained LCO. ON PAPER this should be like a ****+ match, but Team NSD have been in “smoke & mirrors mode” for 4 years by this point.

Right away we get the awesome as NSD simply stands by the gateway to wait for LCO to appear and jumps them while they’re in their ring gear, smashing their shit on the ramp and more. Mita takes a DDT on the ramp and Shimoda gets a double-facecrusher, both of LCO blading before the bell even rings! They let it get all the way into their teeth to be as gross as possible while NSD double-teams Mita in the ropes. LCO are forced to make a babyface comeback and it’s by Shimoda interrupting an LCO-copycat move and chairing Oz while Mita hits the DVD on Hokuto. LCO then do their signature dives (ugly ones) and brawl into the crowd. Extra points for making sure to do the big chairshots and stereo piledrivers on chairs to bleeding vets on the ramp so it looks as big as possible. And stealing the chairs from commentary to the delight of the first row. They take like three solid minutes setting up their Guardrail Drop signature spot on Ozaki & Hokuto as if they can’t decide how they wanna do the spot and so the spot just totally dies. They have to haul a limp Hokuto to the top for a Double Superbomb that somehow looks really bad (Mita slips off before they hit it and Hokuto obviously has to brace off the post for the bump) and Akira gets powerbombed for two.

Shimoda sits on the top for AGES, before she’s even tagged in, then has to do the dreaded “hop down and go to the other corner” cuz Hokuto won’t move as this just falls apart. She misses her somersault ax kick and interference breaks up a bunch of signature spots, leading to Shimoda Death Lake Driver-ing Hokuto off the top and hitting a PERFECT Somersault Ax Kick to Ozaki- haha of all the moves in this sloppy-ass match to hit great it’s that, looking like a somersault fameasser instead of a kick. Mita responds to Hokuto breaking up that pin by rifling a banana-yellow chair at her head, but Ozaki dodges the DVD/Ax Kick so Mita takes the kick and a double-fisherman’s buster gets two. Shimoda with chairs but NSD stops a double-team and hits twin cannonballs for two, then Oz hits the worst Dangerous Queen Bomb ever (why try that on MITA when you’re a midget?), then a Doomsday Device & Tequila Sunrise- Shimoda saves. But an LCO chairshot sandwich misses and Hokuto flattens them both with great timing, and LCO get chairs absolutely wrecked over their heads- a Northern Lights Bomb murders Shimoda to a big pop while Oz just urakens Mita and pins her like they forgot who was legal at (16:03).

Holllllllllllllly fuck this was awful. All four are superstar workers but Oz/Hokuto are washed and LCO was sloppy to match them and so nothing was hitting right and they were just aimlessly wandering around. Taking three minutes to re-assess a guardrail drop in such a major match is unacceptable- did they just not have a match plan? Called it in the ring and just did random stuff? Tons of potentially big spots were wrecked (a Double Superbomb and it just gets no reaction? That’s a bad sign). They really only “got good” in the very last minute or two with a fairly out of nowhere set of moves. This made Nostradamus in particular look really washed and bad. I’ve seen good matches from all these women later than this so I know it’s POSSIBLE, but I also know that “Sloppy Wild Brawls” is all Ozaki ever does from post-1995 so meh.

Rating: *1/2 (atrociously bad match, with everyone seeming both lost AND sloppy)

AAAW TAG TEAM TITLES:
NOSTRADAMUS/OZ ACADEMY (Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima) vs. KAORU & TOSHIYO YAMADA (GAEA):
* The AAAW Tag Titles up for grabs with the “GAEA Loyalist Veteran Duo” of KAORU/Yamada trying to take them from their juniors- the GAEA first class kids who turned heel good and early. Yamada’s in red, KAORU’s in white, Chikayo’s in mustard & Sugar’s in white.

The kids double-team Yamada to start, then KAORU messes up her springboard and gets offended when Chikayo does her own high Thesz Press and Germans her. They alternate very generic, basic work for ages, often interrupting moves with interference, Sugar relying on her uraken repeatedly as a game-changer to halt offense. And then they do the spot they wanted to do all along, with everyone climbing the lighting rig at ringside and KAORU Moonsaulting off… and hitting her partner. Yamada eats sandwich missile kicks and Sugar’s flying back elbow off that, but Chikayo gets rocket-launched onto Yamada’s knees back-first (OUCH) and the Diving Brain Kick gets two. Man this crowd is dead. Chikayo/KAORU bits don’t fix that issue, but they keep hitting counters until Chikayo gets a reaction for an elaborate jujigatame counter from a torture rack and they FINALLY have the crowd after making that as dramatic as possible.

Sugar impresses with a Ligerbomb out of KAORU’s rana, and Chikayo hits a Super Frankensteiner when KAORU climbs so a second Ligerbomb gets two! Yamada comes in and peppers Sugar with kicks to wear her down, so KAORU’s Michinoku driver can get a CLOSE two as Chikayo barely saves. Chikayo missile kicks in to stop a second M-Driver and KAORU manages a Twisting Senton Bomb for two. Then they ruin it by mimicking last match’s super-cooperative Double Superbomb (right down to KAORU slipping off like Mita did), but thankfully Chikayo flying stomps KAORU’s ass to break up the pin. KAORU eats an uraken but rolls Sugar up for two, then takes another and Sugar gets two and the fans know it’s close- Sugar pumps uraken after uraken into KAORU’s head but Yamada gets a last-ditch kick to break it up! So in a dramatic finish, Sugar heroically dusts Yamada off, then turns around and hammers KAORU until she finally stops fighting up and hits a RUNNING Uraken and that scores the pin at (15:52)! Sugar beats another veteran! Ozaki appears decidedly unimpressed at first, but smiles and hugs her charges to their faces.

This was a very half-assed, slack, by-the-numbers match until about ten minutes in, when they finally push some dramatic near-falls to get the crowd into it, and that’s kind of all there is to wrestling, sometimes- make them believe in one nearfall and you could have them. They were hot for the entire rest of the match, even the dumb shit, all because they fought for that juji like it was a potential killer, and it was THE ONLY SUBMISSION ALL MATCH. But once the fans were buying “the next move might be it” they had eight minutes of good fan reactions, where the last match (with much better workers) had none. A testament to sticking to the plan and just ramping up the desperation, because even with Yamada & KAORU’s tired offense the fans were biting mostly through “as long as one’s okay, you can’t score a pin”.

Rating: ***1/4 (a boring start, to the point of ten minutes of nothing, then one hot near-fall turns this into a FIGHT and it’s dramatic struggles. A good way to save a dull match and turn it good)

AAAW WORLD TITLE:
AJA KONG (Nostradamus) vs. MEIKO SATOMURA (GAEA):
* And months of build pays off with young MEIKO getting an All Asia Athlete Women’s Championship shot against the top-ranked Aja Kong, herself champion of two promotions (GAEA & ARSION)! This has been built up by Aja disrespecting Meiko, no-selling her, and pinning her in a variety of matches, refusing to budge and be humbled. And a lot of it stems from a miracle victory Meiko had in a tag match on April 4th, hitting the GAEA MDK Sleeper to bring Aja down and hitting two straight Death Valley Drivers for the shocker win. But every match after that was Aja getting even, to the point of no-selling. But now Aja, one of the best at putting others over there ever was, now has a big showcase to do so. Meiko is stoic and unemotive at first, but tries to fire herself up in the opening.

They’re very slow and steady to begin, Aja first selling Meiko catching her with speed (spinning out of one takedown to do another), but Aja soon just uses weight to her advantage, sitting on Meiko to easily slap her, absorbing kicks like they’re nothing, etc.- thus establishing out of the gate that Meiko is fighting seriously uphill. Aja shows her no respect at all, just pummeling the back with her methodical pace, staying on her enough that Meiko can’t get anything going. She tries to use the momentum from Aja’s shots to aid her strikes, but NOPE- Aja just demolishes her with contemptuous ease. Meiko briefly works the arm & uppercuts Aja down, but gets suplexed on the top rope and smashed into the corner… but when Aja charges in, Meiko hauls herself up and blasts her with an elbow! Aja’s own momentum was the trick after all! Aw but Aja gets her feet up on the splash and we’re right back to square one. Meiko looks like some head kicks make a difference, but tries a DVD like a dummy and Aja’s too aware and heavy. Meiko uses her youth & agility to stick & move, but Aja backdrop drivers her anyways. Aja can’t get a DVD so just dumps Meiko for a rest… NOPE TOPE SUICIDA TIME! Twelve straight minutes of ass-kicking now. But Meiko snaps back for that MDK Sleeper that actually put Aja down… but Aja’s wise to it and jawjacks out, then crushes her with a lariat to end a comeback for two. Aja scores a running lariat, then gets the other countered but easily swats aside the Pele Kick (another instrument of her last defeat)… but when she tries to quickly Uraken her out of the next counter, THIS time Meiko gets it! And Aja’s down!

Flat on her back, Aja’s nearly counted down, springing up at “8”! Still wobbly, she manages a release German to buy herself some time, then flattens Meiko with a corner lariat. Flying Back Elbow… CAUGHT IN A JUJIGATAME HOLY SHIT! Aja has to quickly roll onto her side to avoid the full extension and flails for the rope-break to put it over. Aja’s still too big to DVD, and counters to a Ligerbomb for two. The first big move to hit Meiko… she botches the “sunset flip reversal of the Avalanche Waterwheel Drop” spot but improvises a German off the second rope, then… fakes out a run and hits Aja with a Pele Kick when she tries to chase! Death Valley Driver! But only two! Crowd loves that moment. Meiko, exhausted, has to duck the Uraken but eats the Brainbuster- “Fuck YOU!” bridge! That creates a long double-down, and Aja’s measured Uraken is blocked, knocking Meiko over. Meiko just keeps trying the DVD, but in a shocker, the persistence pays off and it gets two! Another… but Aja slaps her away and pops off a shock Uraken for another double-down! They’re both dead- Aja stumbles up at “8” and actually picks up Meiko at “9”… but now in fact eats the powerbomb reversal form before, Meiko getting two! Meiko looks like only spirit is keeping her body moving as Aja readies a big Uraken… but Meiko was plotting her move and counters- ARMLOCK! Aja desssssssssperately makes the ropes and is in agony, popping Meiko with a light uraken and hitting a Sleeper… but can’t cinch it in because of the pain! So she Urakens Meiko in the back of the head and SWITCHES HER GRIP, as now the choking arm is not the hurt one, and Meiko’s nearly out! She gets a huge reaction just for rolling onto her belly to wreck the grip, and pries Aja’s arms apart and finally gets a toe on the ropes! They’re forehead-to-forehead as they try to get up using each other… and Meiko pops off the Pele Kick! But Aja stumbles the corner, uses it to steady herself, and bolts out with the URAKEN! For the three (21:14)! AJA RETAINS!

Oh man this was FANTASTIC. Aja’s GOAT status is confirmed as even in 1999 she’s able to showcase people ridiculously well. The name of the game here was persistence- Aja sold it like she was a) nearly invincible, and b) ready for Meiko, as in their previous exchanges the kid is always able to surprise her with sleepers, the Pele kick or the DVD to score flukes. But Aja, who takes Title defenses VERY seriously, is so focused it’s like she’s determined never to get caught again. So she’s measured, slow and methodical, ensuring no mistakes happen THIS time, and it lead to Meiko eating like 14 minutes of pure offense. None of which is finisher-tier so it’s not like a SQUASH, but it exhausts her reserves and leaves her hurting. But then Aja finally starts getting caught because Meiko just won’t die- this time, she tries the quickie “reversal uraken” but that’s too careless a spot if someone’s ready for it and Meiko catches her on the spin! And because Aja is awesome, she can sell that single strike like it’s worth a whole match’s worth of beatings, as now she’s “staggered”. She further sells that even on offense by being forced to toss Meiko around to buy herself some recovery time, then her next big move attempt has the jujigatame reversal spot for another near-fall. Two DVDs wear her down and now we see Aja so vulnerable that the strikes of tiny-ass 5’2″ Meiko are hammering her and bringing her close to a massive upset loss. And then we get that bit with the injured arm (Meiko having lured in Aja, using tactics instead of fire for once), Aja having to switch grip on the sleeper (A+ psychology), and that leads to the repeated double-downs as Meiko keeps spamming Peles and Aja’s finally able to weather it and just scores a desperation pin, the kid having pressed her to the breaking point. The crowd bought a fluke the whole way, despite Aja scoring 14 minutes’ of pure offense to start the match- and THAT’S why she’s G.O.A.T. tier.

Rating: ****1/2 (just a fantastic David vs. Goliath match, Aja acting the whole time like Meiko’s “sling” was going to kill her and she was both afraid of it and nearly killed by it)

REVENGE MATCH:
WINNER CONTROLS GAEA JAPAN:
LIONESS ASUKA (SSU) vs. CHIGUSA NAGAYO:
* It’s finally revenge time! The build is supreme here, with epic music seeing Lioness pinning Chigusa to win ownership of GAEA, followed by Aja pinning Chigusa for the AAAW Title. Chigusa then upgrades herself by working out with an American trainer and getting all slim and fit in a leather outfit and crushing Etsuko Mita in less than a minute for her big comeback. Chigusa’s in a new red/black leather outfit. Asuka’s in the usual, but comes out with her trademark TABLE now painted with elaborate designs- a great way to show her intent towards it. Last match, Lioness was nearly beaten, but threw FIRE into Chigusa’s face to stun her and then hit her Towerhacker Bomb finisher.

Chigusa immediately pounces during the introductions and smashes Lioness in a sea of blue streamers, but wheel kicks the lighting rig and Asuka smashes her into it. Chigusa gets tossed off the ramp onto an invincible table (OWWWWWWWWWW) and Lioness brutally puts her through it with a piledriver. Lioness puts her on another table and climbs the rig, but Chigusa kicks her off and through the table, then tries to Superduperplex her through another one but gets tossed off the top onto it. Okay so they’ve chosen Tablefuckery as the style today. Chigusa gets powerbombed but manages an anklelock, and they exchange strikes and suddenly work regular grappling, at an impasse. And they grapple a WHILE- like eight minutes of chain-wrestling. Pretty good because Asuka is great at it (watch her slowwwwwly thread Chigusa into a keylock from her back), even after a LONG test of strength spot leads to some anemic high-kicks and Asuka lands the scorpion deathlock. Get a hold, fight to the ropes; get a hold, fight to the ropes- that sorta stuff. The crowd dies to “random yelling” during this portion. Asuka dumps her, chairshots her back and ass, then her knee, then gets the Painted Table! Chigusa avoids going into it and eats a shitty lariat instead, but Asuka no-sells a German and hits a good running lariat for two.

Chigusa lands a good wheel kick off a whip but takes Asuka’s rolling kick and Asuka gets the Tabled-Assisted Flying Stomp and Blue Thunder Bomb. She goes for the Towerhacker Bomb (torture-rack-to-ligerbomb) but Chigusa counters to the double-wrist suplex and fights her to the apron, where Asuka gets knocked to the floor and divebombed. But Asuka sneaks in a chairshot and powerbombs her from the ramp! Asuka talks shit, splits her open with a chair, then piledrives her on the ramp and a big Ligerbomb in the ring gets two. Towerhacker Bomb! Two! ooh crowd didn’t actually buy that so much. Bad sign. Lioness drapes Chekov’s Table in the corner, one of her signature spots (usually for a superbomb), but Chigusa gets handed a gimmick by her seconds and BREATHES FIRE IN ASUKA’S FACE! Asuka is stunned, flopping around, and Chigusa hits the Death Valley Driver for the three at (19:47)- Chigusa wins back GAEA! She roars in victory as the fans go nuts.

This was… another “Smoke & Mirrors” Asuka/Chigusa match, with a lot of hot spots to start the match, then noticeably 10 solid minutes of cardio-saving, time-killing fuckery, as they chain wrestle (not THAT bad, but after that hot start?), throw light strikes, then aimlessly brawl in the crowd. Like I’ve been watching wrestling long enough to recognize time-killing when I see it, lol. And then they do the OTHER set of spots they really wanted, with the big move series of Asuka leading to the fireball to the face, letting Chigusa pin her arch-nemesis and get even for last match all in one motion, while also giving Asuka a bit of an “out”. The crowd was hot to start, dead in the middle, then hot in the end, same as the match. Wasn’t a fan of Asuka’s sell of the fire- that’s a spot that should leave you flailing and it agony, and she just looks startled then holds still all hunched over.

Rating: **3/4 (not good enough for ***, but good enough to be “good” despite a really soft middle)

We get the big feel-good ending after that, Chigusa helping Asuka to her feet and offers peace. Asuka swats her hand away and hits the floor, looking miserable and down the entire time, then hits the back where Nostradamus makes fun of her, sarcastically clapping. Then they go to ringside to call out Chigusa as the new Heel Army of GAEA, and Chigusa bows to the fans to send them off. She regains the GAEA Binders of Ownership and her loyalists bow in deference and thanks to her.

Okay it’s a card full of disappointment (LCO vs. Hokuto/Oz and it SUCKS?), but Aja/Meiko pulled it all out, and Chigusa/Asuka at least had that “Big Match Feel” to cap off a huge year-long angle with a Chigusa babyface victory. And Nostradamus is still set up as the new dragons to slay, so there’s at least something still going on.