Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan in Summer 2000

GAEA JAPAN IN SUMMER 2000:
* It’s time for more GAEA, as we finish off the rest of July and move in to August! Last we saw, DYNAMITE KANSAI had just left the dying JWP and joined GAEA Japan, joining the Second Generation Army (all the GAEA veterans besides Chigusa). Sugar Sato isn’t in many of these, but apparently wrestled a bit around this time, so it wasn’t because Dynamite Kansai murdered her by Razor’s Edging her off the top rope last time. This is mostly just a huge series of the 2nd Generation crew (vets who hate the Crush Gals) facing Crush/Kid teams of them and the Class of 1995- 5th years who have yet to be really elevated.

So after the first match, I realized that my plan involved FOURTEEN MATCHES, so I decided to be a lot less recappy and more try to just get a sense for the match. This is harder to do than it sounds, though.

Also Dynamite Kansai makes this face at one point.

JULY 20th:

THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (KAORU & Dynamite Kansai) vs. THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Sugar Sato & Toshie Uematsu):
* Kansai has now fully joined the veterans group of heels, and they’re taking on mid-ranked Chigusa trainees.

Sugar immediately bops KAORU with her own board-piece and whirls her into a running powerslam (!), Uematsu adding a splash. But Kansai just casually walks in and handles Sugar with kicks, doing an “EARN your selling, kid” thing that sees her finally blocked down for two. She begrudgingly sells Toshie’s GOO PUNCHES~ and tries a defiant swing, ending up German’d in a good spot. Kansai locks in THE CLAW~~ on the top rope and superplexes her, then lariats both opponents. KAORU/Uematsu go, then Sugar hits a missile kick, but immediately takes a rana, Sugar counters, then KAORU beans her with the board. But Sugar duels her using a chair, winning that fight and eating another board shot. KAORU takes one of the fakest-looking bumps ever over the top off a “charge” and the kids knock the vets around on the floor (KAORU not even bothering to sell a chairshot). Sugar wins a slow-mo weapons duel & Ligerbombs KAORU for two. Toshie does stuff with Kansai but KAORU dives onto Sugar and slams her on a pile of chairs, but gets powerbombed on it herself. Ligerbomb- Kansai saves, then stops the back elbow on to the chairs. Some more dreary shit leads to some stiff weapon-shots to try and get the fans back into it and KAORU gets two Michinoku Drivers for two. A third gest the three at (10:31).

oh my god what a boring, dreary match, haha. Like they threw all that weapons stuff in there so it might LOOK good on paper but it was just mindless “walk from spot to spot” garbage at 2/10 speed and so the fans only reacted to the chair spots. Too much telegraphing and KAORU couldn’t be bothered to sell. This kind of stuff reminds me why the early tape-traders and reviewers would just be like “Bad match. KAORU was lazy” and that’s their entire review, haha.

Rating: * (just low-effort house show garbage walking from spot to spot)

THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Mayumi Ozaki & Toshiyo Yamada) vs. THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Lioness Asuka & Chikayo Nagashima):
* Lioness being here might suggest greater effort, but two of the all-time leaders of “lazy house show macthes” are their opponents.

We start with a crowd brawl, then Oz beats on Chikayo but ends up in an armlock. Ozaki ends up cannonballing Asuka. Asuka & Yamada take turns kicking each other, then Chikayo gets beat up for a while. She keeps getting arm submissions as counters, then ignores a flying stomps to hit her Fisherman’s Buster. Ozaki does the same to her and hits a Running Ligerbomb for two. Asuka’s hot tag goes nowhere and Yamada looks REALLY bad and clunky at points. Yamada goes into Asuka’s table, then Chikayo does the table stomp to her. Asuka hits multiple powerbombs to Yamada, who keeps doing big wind-up punches as offense, and finally hits the Towerhacker Bomb (inverted fireman’s to ligerbomb) for the pin at (9:56).

Rating: *1/2 (just a dreadfully dull match wrestled at slow speeds. Yamada looked clumsy and awful, and Asuka/Chikayo were merely “fine”)

JULY 22nd:
* This is a Korakuen Hall show.

HAND MADE TITLE:
SAKURA HIROTA vs. SAIKA TAKEUCHI:
* More comedy wrestling! Sakura’s “promo in the staircase” is ruined by Takeuchi snacking on her chips and then interrupting her “You are NOT EYE!” catchphrase by knocking her out with a barrel.

Sakura keeps selling the head (even selling a ribbon hitting it) and Takeuchi avoids her alot- Sakura even does a barrel roll into the turnbuckle. Sakura does seem to have adopted a weird lurching headbutt drop into her moveset, doing several- one off the second rope gets two. Takeuchi gets a lot of moments of bold defiance, even trying a tiger suplex- Sakura desperately avoids it, locking the REF in the double-arm too, and is caught apologizing to her when Takeuchi missile kicks her in the back. A comical series sees them each try their back suplexes, Sakura almost pins herself by KOing Takeuchi, who falls onto her, but Sakura maanges her straightjacket suplex thing at (6:32).

Rating: * (pretty standard Sakura fair, but kept short instead of doing the “series last few minutes”, which is good)

THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Devil Masami & Akira Hokuto) vs. THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Meiko Satomura & Chikayo Nagashima):
* The top 2nd Gen. heels team up to face the top 3rd Gen. rookies- an interesting mix.

The kids score a ton of hits on the vets right away until Devil cheats to help Hokuto, but Chikayo missile kicks her to break up some showing off! Devil gleefully no-sells them and batters them around, though. Both teams cheat to help out their partners, and in a fun spot Chikayo armlocks Devil on the top rope, Hokuto snags her, and Meiko snags HOKUTO in a big train of interfering submissions- Devil finally hits an impressive chokeslam to stop it (I think Chikayo sat up herself to eat the move). Devil gets double-teamed and they trick HOKUTO into nailing her for a big pop, but Chikayo takes too long and dives onto her partner. A Super Rocket Launcher is countered with Chikayo’s super rana to Devil- two DVDs get two! A third one (aided by Chikayo) has Hokuto dramatically save, and Chikayo flying stomps Devil, then victory rolls the counter to her Fisherman’s Buster. They catch her with an assisted powerbomb, but mess up another double-team, Chikayo gets another armlock, but she gets too cute and charges into a Spinning Ligerbomb for three at (11:34). Devil talks shit after the bell… and Meiko DVDs her! Hah! So Hokuto dives in and executes her with teh Northern Lights Bomb, then DQ Bombs Chikayo as the bell keeps ringing and pandemonium breaks out.

A good, dramatic bout compared to the lazybones ones we’ve been seeing- lots of “Chikayo spins into a move” bits and impressive counters, and it keeps you guessing by even countering the COUNTERS. Plenty of moves were all Chikayo helping Devil toss her around (Hokuto did little). About as good as a match can get with Hokuto mostly doing nothing but interfere.

Rating: *** (much better stuff- the postmatch brawl improves it, haha)

LIONESS ASUKA vs. KAORU:
* A rare singles match… but with KAORU these are all lame weapons matches now.

Immediately this turns into a big fight in the stands, Asuka literally chasing her and doing a chair-battle in as tight a space as they can find. Asuka gets kicked backwards off a chair on the sairs- they always baby these bumps but they always make me cringe- you can SO easily fuck yourself up. KAORU works the leg but eats a TKO, no-selling but getting flung into Asuka’s table repeatedly, only for Asuka to kick it and her leg being hurt again! KAORU grinds at the leg, but a multiple reversal sequence sees them both spill onto the floor. Asuka kicks her coming off the 2nd rope with a moonsault, actually remember to sell the leg, then it’s more floor brawling… and an Asuka Flying Stomp through a table! Kinda loses impact with KAORU openly screaming at Asuka on the top rope with nobody pinning her upper body down (there’s someone on her legs). And that there’s nine minutes left. KAORU, 30 seconds after this huge move, counters an apron bomb to a rana to the floor, then sentons Asuka through another table! Yeah now seh’s totally fine. A dramatic suplex (probably supposed to be her Brainbuster) hampers Asuka and a board shot leaves a DENT in it, but the Boardsault misses and Asuka hits a great front superplex & flying clothesline to counter her. Stomp to the table & BT Bomb get two, but KAORU stops the Towerhacker and anklelocks her. A Running Ligerbomb nearly gets KAORU and she botches the kickout reaching for her board too late. Michinoku Driver gets two. Asuka kicks her board away and a kick series & Ligerbomb get twos, and kicks set up the Towerhacker, KAORU botching a rana counter for two. Lioness finally gets it… for two! Dumbfounded, she creates some kinda inside-cradle Michinoku Driver for the pin at (17:43).

This was a pretty typical KAORU “Big Match”- brainless, lots of spots, and badly constructed. Like why are the huge table spots to the floro at the MID-POINT? Never mind that KAORU doesn’t sell her giant bumps at all and just starts doing spots again. Then KAORU starts botching stuff near the end, probably losing her cardio and getting sloppy. She gets the credit of kicking out of the Towerhacker Bomb before eating a clean pin. Another odd thing is that the heels are used to cheating constantly in every match… now all their matches are usually free of interference?

Rating: **1/4 (some points for Asuka doing good stuff and some stunts, but it’s just more brainless KAORU stuff with oddly-timed spots)

THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Aja Kong & Dynamite Kansai) vs. THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Chigusa Nagayo & Sonoko Kato):
* Hey! Kato’s alive! But not for long, as she’s facing the ultimate Monster Squad of Aja & Kansai. I mean what a way to return from the Phantom Zone or injuries or whatever.

Kansai immediately goes for Die Hard (super razor’s edge) on Chigusa, but Kato hauls her off and they both hit flying attacks. Kato does a clunky bit with Kansai and ends up in THE CLAW~~ and flying stomped. Kato gets her ass kicked by Aja, too. She gets a German and flies to the floor on the heels, and Chigusa goes with Aja, both tumbling off the second rope thanks to their partners. Aja does the All Japan Sell of a DVD and lariats Chigusa for two, and the boss can’t even mount real offense against Kansai- Kato has to save from Splash Mountain. Aja immediately Brainbusters Chigusa and Kato has to save, desperately trying her Dragon Suplex on Kansai… then dodging Aja’s can shot so Kansai eats it and fires off some rolling kicks for a DRAMATIC two (Aja piles on to stop it). Aja Brainbusters Kato to end that, and a Crush Gals Sandwich Lariat flattens her. Then, in a huge show of force, they hit Kansai’s new move, Aja’s Uraken, and Splash Mountain to kill Kato at (8:47). Everyone talks smack after the match, and sure enough, Chigusa is disgusted and out comes LIONESS to set up the huge CRUSH 2000/Aja & Kansai match. The whole GAEA roster doing the Crush finger -point at them is great.

A very “take your lumps, kid” kind of match, as Kato returns wrapped up like a mummy from her injuries and gets slaughtered by the two toughest customers in GAEA, then EASILY defeat her team by singling her out and crushing her with all their big moves. This obviously builds that superteam.

Rating: **1/2 (very flavorful one-sided ass-kicking as a match)

AUG. 13th:
* This is a house show in a REALLY brightly lit gym.

MEIKO SATOMURA vs. SAKURA HIROTA:
* Hirota now comes out as a bloody-mouthed ghost carrying a bucket, running around the upper stands while “Thriller” plays. She lays a trap using her new metal bucket, dropping it… five feet behind Meiko. This sends Meiko up to the stands as well, finally dropping the same bucket down 20 feet to knock her out.

The match is all goofiness, Sakura using the typical Japanese “fingers in the ass” prank, selling the smell as devastating (the ref does the same), Meiko not even bothering to hide how this is breaking her. Sakura finally gets some offense like the Flying Ass, but starts missing her lurching headbutts until Meiko accidentally nails the ref and Sakura starts getting offense again. She even hits her Half-Straightjacket Suplex, but then they start rolling each other around the ring in a long goofy spot. Meiko finally fights her into the Death Valley Driver at (6:20 of 8:39 shown).

Rating: *1/2 (your everyday Hirota match)

THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Devil Masami & Toshiyo Yamada) vs. THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Chigusa Nagayo & Toshie Uematsu):
* A sorta interesting mish-mash with people who don’t partner up much.

Everyone messes with each other’s partners, but Uematsu gets so heated she shoves CHIGUSA out of the way to beat Yamada’s ass for messing with her. This draws almost ZERO reaction, though. Devil interferes so Yamada can hit a superduperplex & spinkick counter, so Chigusa interferes to set up a superplex. Devil won’t sell Toshie’s rana but Chigusa DVDs her repeatedly- Devil still won’t sell and hits a shitty Michinoku Driver where she just slams Chigusa onto Devil’s own legs. Devil keeps no-selling and using a fake sword, but they have better luck with Yamada, who defies Toshie’s Goo Punches but in a great bit misses a counter and gets uppercutted onto her ass to a good pop. Double-Wrist Armsault gets two, Yamada lands a big punch for the same, Toshie hits a ton of big punches, but Yamada finally just absorbs them and KOs her with a series of elbows for three (8:12).

Rating: * (OOF- even by the standards of “lazy house show matches” this was bad, with Devil just not even bothering with selling, popping up from DVDs, strikes, etc. The crowd responded with dead silence)

THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Akira Hokuto & KAORU) vs. THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Lioness Asuka & Sonoko Kato):
* The Asuka/Kato team is reborn to take on more vets.

The 2nd Gen. attacks into a crowd brawl before the bell, then single out Kato with stuff, Asuka finally powerbombing KAORU onto Hokuto to stop Stranglehold Gamma. ANOTHER crowd brawl leads to an in-ring clusterfuck of various stuff, Asuka getting overwhelmed with weapons (KAORU tosses Hoktuo her bokken to stop a powerbomb). A routine starst where Asuka makes comebacks with lariats, then the heels cheat via interference (Police is routinely getting involved). Lioness gets the front superplex/flying stomp on KAORU again and the BT Bomb gets two, but KAORU gets her board and immediately it’s no-sell city as she hammers away with it and Michinoku Drivers Lioness on it. Asuka dodges a rocket launcher and Kato instantly beats some ass, hitting a facecrusher, German & Guillotine Legdrop on Hokuto, then stereo moves put the heels down & Kato hits a Dragon Suplex, but finally misses a flying move. A shitty boardsault by KAORU puts Kato down, but she finally goes totally apeshit by grabbing the board and attacking absolutely everyone in range, including Asuka nd the ref- no one’s able to stop her frenzy and it’s a DQ at (11:26). Finally everyone hauls her down and the heels scream at her, Hokuto seemingly busting her open with a police baton.

Another KAORU Clusterfuck, usually with tons of random stuff going on, typically getting a good stream of offense going until it’s time for KAORU to ignore everything. Kato’s final surge was some interesting stuff, drawing laughter and cheers from the fans and insinuating that she’s the most uncontrollable, hate-filled 3rd-Gen kid. Hokuto, again, is barely a factor in the match.

Rating: **1/4 (good stuff will start, KAORU will mess it up with bad match-flow and her weapon spots/no-selling, then good stuff will happen again)

AUG. 20th:
* Another house show- this one in a VERY small building in Osaka- I think there’s 5 rows of fans on each side. And a power point screen on the hard cam!

MEIKO SATOMURA vs. SONOKO KATO:
* Interestingly, the two first-class wrestlers who’ve been paired up since 1995 get another singles match. Kato now has a CLOSE buzzcut and a notable bandage on the side of her head- that’s probably where Hokuto hit her.

They use the small crowd as an opportunity to do “long fight over a headlock” spots and a light fight in the stands- Kato takes the lead with light strikes and a spinning Samoan drop. She fights back a comeback and blocks kicks to set up Kowloon’s Gate (Meiko’s head bouncing RIGHT off the mat). This is so slack that Meiko just ROLLS to escape a flying move, then fights out of doing the Dragon Suplex bump and does an armbar, then a weirdass double-arm one that gets called “Henkei” (modified) and “Chotto” (not quite) by commentary, haha. Kato escapes the DVD and rolling kicks her for two, and in a good ending, teases the Pele kick, uses the bluff to ACTUALLY hit it, then DVDs Kato for the three at (8:55).

Rating: *1/2 (man, now this was SLACK- six straight minutes of Kato dominating with the most basic stuff, simple strike counters, very few bumps, then Meiko gets 2 minutes at the end)

THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Devil Masami, Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki) vs. THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Chigusa Nagayo, Lioness Asuka & Chikayo Nagashima):
* I weep at the notion of this absolute top-tier Dream Match (minus Chikayo) circa 1992-93 being used as a house show main event. Imagine if this was when they were all at their PRIME?

They beat up Chikayo to start, but she hangs Devil using the top rope to get even. Devil/Chigusa have a house show-y chopfest/sleeper spot, Devil missing her cannonball and getting DVD’d, but Police sets up a superplex. Kansai sells for Asuka, getting bounced into the black table by everyone, takes a rolling kick, but get a backdrop suplex. Chikayo hits two Fisherman’s Busters on Ozaki and an armbar, but Devil sets up a Running Ligerbomb for two. Chikayo gets backfisted a ton, but fires up and avoids a sandwich clothesline so the CRUSH GALS GET ONE, following with another Buster on Ozaki for a close call. Ozaki nearly does the move to her, but Asuka interferes and CHIKAYO PINS OZAKI at (9:18) with another! Huge win as the student defeats the teacher! Ozaki is enraged as Crush/Chikayo do the Crush Point at her. HUGE props are given to Chikayo at the show, Crush Gals repeatedly emphasizing her.

Rating: **1/2 (MUCH better this time around, as though it starts lazy- Devil is just DONE for in 2000- everyone gets a turn and the Ozaki/Chikayo bits and double-teams are good)

HAND MADE TITLE:
SAKURA HIROTA vs. SAIKA TAKEUCHI:
* ANOTHER one of these two, but Sakura is now cosplayinhg as Police. This starts with a LONG thing about various people beating Sakura.

Sakura USES THE ASS and does more lurching headbutts, and they do an intentional botch of an International with Sakura getting headbutted in the crotch. A long run on the floor leads to lots of dropkicks, Sakura fails her suplex, but finally hits two Urakens for the win (6:10).

Rating: * (the “Lazy House Show” version of Sakura’s matches- minimal gimmickry and more stalling)

AUG. 25th:
* Back to Korakuen for a real show!

THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki) vs. THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Chigusa Nagayo & Chikayo Nagashima):
* A rematch of sorts of the previous show’s wrestlers, more focused.

We’re JIP with a rocket launcher stomp from the babyfaces to Kansai, then Chikayo’s armbar. Ozaki flies onto Kansai but manages to counter Chikayo’s Buster to her own when Chigusa accidentally nails her partner, but Kansai clotheslines HER and a Buster gets two. Chigusa loses a strike war with Kansai and Splash Mountain gets two- Chikayo saves. Chigusa fights back with a LONG sleeper spot, Chikayo Tequila Sunrise-ing Oz and holding her up top to make that the focus rather than the hold. Oz finally flying stomps Chigusa and backfists everyone, and Kansai moves from trying Splash Mountain to trying DIE HARD, leading to a minute-long fight up top where everyone flies in until Chikayo finally lands a super rana- good reaction there. Chigusa with a flying lariat and a ton of regular ones to batter Kansai, who is so staggered that Chigusa can scissor-kick her IN THE NOSE and this gets the pin at (8:35 of 12:29 shown)! Hah- good ending!

Rating: **1/4 (we only got the end of it but it looked like a fun scrap, kept “simple” to the point where it centers around 3 distinct spots and the endless fights around them- pretty clever)

THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Devil Masami & Aja Kong) vs. THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Lioness Asuka & Meiko Satomura):
* Another “Vets vs. Vet/1995 Kid” match is our main event.

Aja accidentally dives onto Devil right away and Lioness does the world’s worst Giant Swing ever on Aja, Meiko dropkicking her mid-“swing”. Lioness ends up battered around by the heels, Aja lariating both foes in succession in a cool spot, but Devil goes into the table and eats the flying stomps to it. Heel interference goes wrong and BOTH take DVDs from Meiko, and Devil does her “oh no I’m deeeeaaaddddd” lazybones sell, but eventually just stands up straight to tauntingly no-sell Meiko and commentary backs up my thoughts- she’s pulling her SUPER HEEL Devil Masami schtick. She completely ignores Meiko’s shots & DVD, hitting a Ligerbomb with Aja’s help, but Aja gets cocky with Lioness and needs help to hit a brainbuster. Aja eats a rolling kick but gets an Uraken for two, and a Devil cannonball/Aja back elbow gets two. Lioness turns Aja’s Avalanche Waterwheel Drop into a running Ligerbomb, but eats uncoordinated weapon shots into an Uraken for two. Finally, the two just trade their strike finishers until Aja finally holds her down struggling at (10:55). Post-match, Meiko calls out DEVIL for her next big “biting off more than she can chew” deal.

Rating: ** (hard fought at points but fairly abridged and VERY lazy by Devil, who could barely sell or bump at this point and would do things like either lie down immobile to sell or just stand there in her Super Heel incarnation. Her weapon stuff was highly uncoordinated as well, which really contrasted the other three)

So the story developing here is very clear- the Second Generation Army has veteran after veteran and tends to slaughter the “1995” kid in any given match, so they pick up more wins in Crush/3rd Gen matches. BUT the 3rd Gen kids are steadily improving and can pull out surprises- near the end we see Chikayo being elevated against Ozaki, actually PINNING HER once (Ozaki verrrrrry rarely takes falls), so it’s not a hopeless struggle. In fact, this Chikayo elevation has been going on since early 2000, as clearly they noticed how good she was getting and the need to escalate her push (when Meiko & Sonoko had been getting the most singles focus).