Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan in March 2000

GAEA JAPAN:
(March 2000)
* Okay, so horror of horrors- I coudn’t find hardly ANYTHING for joshi in 2000 at all save for GAEA’s always-full channel. 80+ matches in the GAEA style… *shudder*. I mean LAST SHOW had two excellent matches on it but there’s so much crap at the same point, lol. The only Zenjo stuff I could find was in the fall. I might try for a “just the highlights” style of reviewing for some of this as I’d probably get bored of this promotion in an extended go, but we’ll see. THANKFULLY I managed to find a lot of ARSION & JD’ on Archive.org, as annoying as that site is to watch stuff on (the “skip” function is quite poor and the viewing window is no fun).

But wait! This show actually has some stuff! A new member joins the big heel stable HIMIKO! We further the angle between the former Crush Gals uniting against evil heels! And a match over *** happens again!

GAEA Roster: Chigusa Nagayo, Toshiyo Yamada, Meiko Satomura, Sonoko Kato, Toshie Uematsu, Sakura Hirota, Saika Takeuchi
HIMIKO Roster: Mayumi Ozaki, Akira Hokuto, Sugar Sato, Chikayo Nagashima, RIE, Kaori Nakayama
DorA Roster: Aja Kong, Lioness Asuka, KAORU, Sonoko Kato

TOSHIYO YAMADA vs. TOSHIE UEMATSU:
* An interesting combination, as Yamada is repackaged as a Flinststones character and Uematsu is the least credible of GAEA’s Original Five.

Yamada scores a spinkick off the break that has Toshie selling big, but she starts using clever counters to fire back. She eats shit on a dive to the floor, but Goo Punches Yamada off the top repeatedly and catches a kick with an anklelock against the turnbuckle. She presses the leg repeatedly, but Yamada kicks out of the Northern Lights suplex at 1 repeatedly. A flying splash to the knee helps out, and she hooks the leg for her next NL suplex, getting two. Yamada finally comes back with a punch combo and nearly taps Toshie out with an armbar, but Toshie punches free, ends up in another, hits a good high knee to the face and another NL Suplex for two, but gets wiped out with a trio of spinkicks. She avoids hte Reverse Gory Bomb, but Yamada just wipes her out with a pair of right hands at (8:58). A pretty typical Uematsu match- technically competent but largely uninteresting. Yamada sold the leg well enough but the result wasn’t in doubt. Resorting to brawling to beat the junior is a solid bet, at least.

Rating: **1/4 (a very “Yamada/Uematsu” match- both are queens at getting to **)

SAKURA HIROTA vs. RIE:
* It’s Sakura vs. someone she can actually maybe defeat! The audience roars with laughter at a “Sakura reads a newspaper and then does a promo to the camera bit” I assume is great if you know Japanese and the culture.

RIE waits in the ring but is immediately backfisted by Sakura in her street clothes. RIE soon trips her and avoids some telegraphed dives, then beats up Sakura in the ropes until Sakura USES THE ASS to come back. Sakura tries to backfist a flying knee and hurts herself, then gets powerbomed for two. RIE works over her hand, but Sakura nonetheless gets many backfists, a flying one getting two. The half-nelson suplex does too, and a long, bad sequence sees Sakura be the one to go into a barbed-wire stick. Flying knee gets two for RIE, and Sakura accidentally BACKFISTS it- a regular one gets two, but RIE finally leans back on her La Majistral attempt for three (8:49). Another agonizing Sakura match that’s a mix of funny bits, unfunny bits and business-exposing wrestling, haha.

Rating: * (I feel I could just leave the final sentence up there as a review for every Sakura match)

LIONESS ASUKA vs. SAIKA TAKEUCHI:
* LMAO jesus. The baby rookie in lime green up against the super-veteran. Sonoko Kato’s on the outside… in a neckbrace. Oh dear.

Saika tries to start early but Asuka just shrugs her off and giant swings her. Lioness toys with her, not going for pins and easily stuffing weak offense (What WAS that sunset flip attempt?), then does stretching. Asuka sells a flurry of dropkicks so well that fans actually pop for her at last being felled- I like how she’s not agonized but is just kinda being overwhelmed by how many there are. She weathers it all and crushes Saika with a lariat, and a pop is drawn for the slowwww bridge-out. Saika gets the token last-ditch rollup, then gets killed with another lariat at (6:10), Lioness winning. About how you’d imagine a Rookie vs. Top Veteran match would go, Lioness going easy on her and mostly doing slow stretching and easily dealing with her, selling only a tiny bit to show the gulf between them. Extra points for demanding the kid get up, and a dazed Saika actually being offered a handshake of respect, drawing some “oooh”s from the crowd.

Rating: 1/2* (your classic “Veteran Squash”, but not as mean as most- just definitive and emphatic)

D OR A (Lioness Asuka & Aja Kong) vs. HIMIKO (Chikayo Nagashima & Sugar Sato):
* Oh damn! It’s… shit where was my GAEA scorecard? Oh right, Asuka & Aja are on the same team. So it’s two elite veterans vs. outmatched Class of 95 kids.

The kids attack before the bell and everyone fights into the crowd, then Chikayo hits an impressive headscissors in the ring, but Asuka TKOs her. The vets take turns crushing her with back kicks, then do more spine work, Chikayo selling and countering really well. Sugar gets trucked trying to brawl with Aja, but the kids double-team her into Chikayo’s sunset flip. Asuka finally saves, but Chikayo has a creative reversal of a gaint swing by sitting up and grappling her, then dumps her and dives. But only Sugar eats that, and the vets beat them down in the stands again… but in-ring, Chikayo counters being whipped into Asuka’s table by slingshotting off for a rana! Lioness immediately recovers and blasts her with a lariat, but Chikayo springs up in a bridge and counters a powerbomb- Sugar chairs Asuka and Chikayo’s flying stomp gets two. Sugar’s missile kick counter goes nowhere but she manages to counter Asuka more, pulls her in front of Aja’s lariat, and hits a bad ligerbomb for two. Lioness hits her giant swing into the Flying Table Stomp, then AJA teases it, but settles for tossing Chikayo onto the table- Asuka’s Blue Thunder Bomb gets two.

Ligerbomb- last-ditch twitch kickout. Chikayo saves her from a 2nd-rope splash and she dragon screws Aja off the top into her Flying Back Elbow. Aja counters a powerbomb but gets sunset flipped off the top, then catches Chikayo but gets locked in her great shoulder-mount submission and sells that as a big deal, desperately struggling. Aja won’t give her a perfect plex, but a chairshot sets up a German- Lioness interferes… but eats an Uraken! Sugar flies in and sets up the Rocket Launcher Stomp, but Aja brings in the oil can and smashes them to set up the flying back elbow- close kickout! The veterans finally double-team the kids and set up a Sandwich Lariat… but RIE runs in! That saves Chikayo, as a Sugar can stop the pin after a Brainbuster. Chikayo is saved by RIE’s flying knee to Aja, but Aja no-sells an oil can shot and Urakens her for the pin at (15:41). Lots of drama near the end as the kids keep fighting.

haha oh man, this was “Showcase Chikayo: The Match”. Remember that WreslteMania VII match where the Hart Foundation lost hte tag belts, but it was a massive Bret showcase of selling? This is that match, but with her- twice she does full crunches from her back to counter things, does a rana reversal from teh table-whip, and gets tons of chances to sell. After that’s done, Sugar gets her chance, but looks much less imperssive- injuries and weight have slown her quite a bit. Chikayo then runs back in and does more scool shit, then the kids do a bunch of double-teaming to put themselves over, and the vets have to resort to cheating and tactics to win. This leads to some dramatic near-falls near the end as the kids are barely saved repeatedly until the flurry is just too much, especially from Aja. A pretty good “hopeless battle”.

Rating: ***1/2 (a really good, dramatic tag match with the veterans just being too overwhelming)

CHIGUSA NAGAYO & MEIKO SATOMURA vs. HIMIKO (Mayumi Ozaki & Akira Hokuto):
* Here’s a clip of objectively four of the top stars in a tag match!

They start off with a simply AWFUL sequence where everyone mis-times and Meiko pele kicks Hokuto. Chigusa has to save it all with a run-in and Meiko DVDs Hokuto for two. But Chigusa lands on Meiko’s arm and Ozaki adds a flying knee to it and they do a shitty buckle bomb as the crwod is deathly silent. Meiko’s arm gets raked along the ropes, and her DVD is countered to that shoulder-mount submission peeps are doing in this era, which doesn’t get much of a reaction since Meiko’s just doing the “grimacing” sell instead of any desperation. Chigusa finally just saves the thing with a run-in and yelling, and no-sells Ozaki’s backfist and hits her running Razor’s Edge, but a backfist drops her and both are down. Akira charges in for a Northern Lights Bomb, but Oz nails her by accident. RIE runs in with a stick, then the heels hit the Crush Double Punch, but Chigusa just randomly slugs Ozaki down and superplexes Hokuto. Meiko hits a NL suplex- Oz sticks her for it. A stick to the arm sets up Stranglehold Gamma, Chigusa saving, and a DVD is turned into a brutal jujigatame and hey- the crowd’s finally with them! Meiko’s struggle to the ropes was good- twisting and turning in desperation. Backdrop Driver & Dangerous Queen Bomb keep it up on Meiko, and they double-team the arm until Chigusa wails away with a stick. But Ozaki pops Meiko with an uraken and Akira finishes with the NL Bomb… and switches to Stranglehold Gamma just to be a dick and get the tapout (6:35 of 7:10 shown). Chigusa, incensed, attacks with some incredibly wimpy barbed-wire stick shots, and as Chigusa gets overwhelmed by the heel army HERE COMES ASUKA, and they hit a backdrop/flying elbow, but HIMIKO charges during the Double Crush Punch spot and GAEA has to pull everyone apart.

ooof- just a sloppy, hideous mess. Like NOTHING was hitting right and once they got the “Botchies” in their system it was a terminal case. Wild how that happens sometimes, even with pros. Like you see the botches and it makes you nervous about them, thus creating more of them. I guess it’s called “the yips” in real sports but I like The Botchies because you sometimes see it just ruin the entire match like that. The crowd definitely picked up on it and was doing that ._. thing where they don’t wanna do the “moan of disappointment/worry” Japanese crowds normally do (you know the one) and make them feel bad but also wasn’t gonna cheer out of pity. Thankfully the last minute or so is okay (essentially once Hokuto hits finishers and “real” submission attempts the fans are into it). But mostly just sloppy shop.

Rating: *1/2 (ever wanna see four total pros wrestle like nervous kids in their third match? Boy do I have the match for you!)

We get a bit of the last beatdown, but Hokuto gets on the mic after and announces the newest member of HIMIKO… Devil Masami! Oh good a totally not-washed-up veteran! She makes an amused face at Chigusa and then starts throwing disrespectful kicks. This sets off another storm of activity, with Asuka’s DorA stable coming out alongside GAEA and the Crush Gals REUNITE but not like… in name or anything. They’re just putting their hands on each other’s shoulders and doing promos in unison and stuff!

D OR A (Lioness Asuka & KAORU) vs. HIMIKO (Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki):
(March 20th)
* So a show a week later now features Devil as part of the primary heel stable.

We’re clipped immediately to Lioness eating a quadruple-team from the heels, and even Aja Kong is brutalized at ringside. Loiness bleeds, and Devil smears the blood all over her own face, then bites the cut and spits blood everywhere to be extra-gross about it. Devil bites and bites until Aja comes in with the oil can, but HIMIKO charges the ring to stop a Ligerbomb pin. Devil hits her own for two, then Lioness stumbles away and avoids a double-team and clobbers Devil with a rolling kick. But the heels overwhelm her with cheating again, KAORU lying in a heap in the corner for like five straight minutes, and Aja has to save again. But Devil just crushes Asuka with a Rikishi Driver at (6:14 of 16:17 shown). Devil cuts a long taunting promo after the fact, making her best “crazy wide-eyed witch face” the whole time, but soon Chigusa hits the ring and fights off HIMIKO by herself and there’s another pullapart. We end things with an impassioned Chigusa promo over Asuka’s broken body, and Chigusa carries her ex-partner away from ringside.

Rating: *1/2 (literally just “random weapon shots, biting and blood” as a match)

So uhhhhhhh one match on this set was really good! The rest is the usual “GAEA is one long Best of 86 Falls Match” stuff with tons of brawling. Devil joins HIMIKO (am I supposed to capitalize that or not? Does it matter?) but Chigusa & Asuka keep teaming up in extracurricular brawls and so that’s GOING SOMEWHERE (I know it actually does so I’m waiting for that goddamn fireworks factory).