Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan Double Destiny 2000

GAEA DOUBLE DESTINY 2000:
(Yokohama, Sept. 15th 2000)
* It’s time for more GAEA Japan! With another big show, with a roll call before the show! The Second Generation Army (Akira Hokuto, Devil Masami, KAORU, Mayumi Ozaki, Aja Kong, Toshiyo Yamada, Dynamite Kansai & RIE) are first, coming out to “Detroit Rock City” by KISS of all things, and the Third Generation Army (the Crush Gals as “CRUSH 2000” leading Meiko Satomura, Sonoko Kato, Toshie Uematsu, Chikayo Nagashima, Sugar Sato, Sakura Hirota & Saika Takeuchi). The GAEA loyalists do the “Crush Hand Signal” at the fans after Sakura’s opening address (the heel 2nd Generation, who hate all these girls, bail before she starts). This one is features a big “GAEA First Generation vs. Evil Veterans” concept, with five matches in a row featuring one of the Class of 1995 against the vets- KAORU, Yamada, Hokuto, Masami & Ozaki. AND it’s main evented by an amazing Crush 2000 vs. Aja Kong/Dynamite Kansai spectacle dream match!

HAND MADE TITLE:
POLICE vs. SAKURA HIROTA:
* POLICE is apparently the current champion- Ozaki’s chief goon, he typically just interferes in matches, so I have no idea how he’ll do in an actual match. Such as Sakura’s bouts tend to be. Sakura cuts an impassioned pre-taped promo (she has long hair, but short hair for the match), and comes out dressed as KINNIKUMAN, from a wildly popular manga that originated a lot of Shonen Manga tropes. It’s typically called M.U.S.C.L.E. in the west.

Police catches Sakura up top and Flair Tosses her, then catches her cross-body, but she USES THE ASS to batter him around, getting a big slap for a huge pop. He’s a bit herky-jerky with his selling, looking like he’s actually being hit, and barely kicks out after the Flying Ass, but manages to slam her crotch-first into the vertical turnbuckle pad. Most of his offense is just “stomp on her while yelling”, showing why he’s not like… an actual WRESTLER, and he pulls Sakura around by the hair to counter her wrestling. He throws some big lariats, doing the full “hook the leg and push the shoulders down” cover, which causes the crowd to pop for the kickout. Police powers out of her back suplex, but her corner uraken pops him, and nails that suplex (he has to leap so hard she just spins around instead of tries for a bridge), but he ducks her uraken and lariats her again. But Sakura punches him RIGHT in the balls, and that scores the pin at (6:02). NEW HANDMADE TITLE CHAMPION! Sakura cuts a promo on him and leaves for a feel-good moment, but an incensed Police then assaults the poor female GAEA referee, pummelling her and booting her out of the ring! This lets him retain some heat (I guess), as he leaves amidst boos and mostly an amused audience. Sore loser!

Shockingly good considering Police can work only a little- his scrappy, ugly kicks and lariats are kind of fitting for what he is (an uncultured, untrained little twerp), and because he’s a man, him powering around Sakura and countering her just with hair pulls and grabbing her actually makes sense. And because he’s skinny and not very big, it’s not totally unrealistic that she can use technique and surprise to catch him. And the finish gives him some of his own medicine- cheating carries the day.

Rating: *1/2 (a miracle considering the limitations you’d expect)

FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE:
KAORU vs. SUGAR SATO:
* Oh NOOOOOOOOOOO another long video with KAORU doing her garbage match stuff. These went from “well she’s doing a new thing” to “the worst thing on every show” very quickly. KAORU comes down with a ladder; Sugar comes down with a BARREL. And baggy red pants.

KAORU attacks Sugar with a chain when she’s still holding the barrel, but has to escape the barrel when it’s tossed her way. KAORU tries to fly around, but has to settle for throwing her board at Sugar, then does a half-hearted board choke and gets “tossed” into the ladder and bonked into the barrel a bunch. She goes into the barrel herself and is smashed into it VERY unconvincingly. Pound it a little harder with your hands, Sugar! A lethal ladder shot to Sugar’s hands and “grinding with it” (bugger me, could these cameras be any closer?) and the fans are SILENT for this. KAORU bites away at a tiny cut and tries a piledriver on the rickety barrel, getting backdropped off for our first crowd reaction- Sugar then climbs the ladder for no reason (KAORU’s on the floor) and KAORU missile kicks it and superplexes her off it. This really needs a REASON to climb the ladder- they’re obviously just doing it to do spots. KAORU now tries to superplex the LADDER onto Sugar, but misses- Sugar gets the ladder and starts bashing KAORU with it (I assume they’re copying the “put it over your head and swing it” move from WWF’s ladder matches), then knocks her to the floor off it.

Who did this spot first? ECW? Or was it a WWF one?

KAORU whacks her with the board to halt a plancha, then does her Moonsault off the LIGHTING RIG. See, Toyota started doing that shit and now all the crazy high-fliers want a piece of that action. Naturally it’s time for more furniture, so KAORU launches her SENTON off the same lighting rig, naturally getting only two. Oh so this is Falls Count Anywhere, haha. Naturally after that huge spot it’s time to kill the crowd by fucking around doing nothing, as KAORU repeatedly repositions Sugar until she does her Boardsault onto a ladder that’s on Sugar… where her knees are. Sugar weakly kicks out, but after another minute of set-up, counters a Michinoku Driver through a table with a LIGERBOMB on it, getting two. More furniture sees Sugar rana’d off the apron onto a table (the crowd hilariously dies the SECOND she bounces off and doesn’t go through), then KAORU does her X-Factor off the ladder on the ramp, but she puts Sugar on a table and climbs the ladder, getting Superbombed off it through the table for the three (12:57)- Sugar pins KAORU! A pretty big one for one of the most aimless, increasingly-injured & clumsy Class of 1995 girls. KAORU looks crushed after Sugar raises hell in the ring, slinking off all dejected carrying her ladder.

hahah this was asssssssssssss… it was like they figured out all the furniture spots they wanted to do ahead of time, but crammed them all into the back half after just aimlessly screwing around for 10 minutes, then kept doing big bumps with like, a full MINUTE to set up each one of them, thus ensuring the crowd would die off before each hit. Neither bothered to sell very big, either, negating their impact. Just brainless spotbot garbage with a lot of time wasted and most of the moves either failing to get over, or ensuring that ONLY the moves got over- the crowd was never chanting for Sugar or KAORU, instead just popping for the move and quieting down during the expanse between them.

Rating: * (some big spots but barely any match to construct them together)

TOSHIYO YAMADA vs. TOSHIE UEMATSU:
* The two most aimless of GAEA’s wrestlers compete to see who will gain direction! It’s either Mad Max Yamada or “well we forgot to give her an angle” Uematsu. Yamada’s outfit is now more “maroon leather w/ white stuff” than “Flintstones”, while Uematsu is back in the Anna from “Frozen” gear.

Uematsu pounces early and fires off a rolling verison of her Double-Wrist Armsault finisher, hitting it 5 times, then another for two and works weak submissions. Missile kick & armsault #7 get two. Bizarre reversals see Yamada just… shove Uematsu away from her and kick her in the head. Uematsu swings wildly with her GOO PUNCH~~ but gets kicked again. Boy this isn’t over with the fans at ALL. Yamada hits a big ramp-running lariat and counters a charge with a head-punt, earning a “9” count, and Yamada beats her up a bit. An ugly scrap leads to Uematsu straightjacketing her using the ring ropes, then more awkward punching back & forth sees Uematsu take the lead, only to collapse back mid-move. Yamada demands she get up, hitting a really good elbow to the face for a close two. Uematsu is fading, trying an in-ring straightjacket hold but Yamada just DECKS her, then pulls her up for another for… two! The crowd pops! IT’S FINALLY OVER! Uematsu collapses to prevent another elbow, so Yamada just machine-guns her with knees and spinkicks her- Yamada charges into a Dragon Suplex for two. Uematsu then springs forward with the Goo Punch, immediately swings another Armsault, but keeps hold of the arms to spin around into the Straighjacket Hold… for the submission (8:52)! Uematsu wins! Two 3rd Generation wins in a row!

Okay, I feel like I know what they were going for, here- they seemed to want to do more of a “realistic” scrap where counters come from simple punches that are SOLD, and not necessarily this big, pro wrestling-esque dramatic struggle, so the counters all come outta nowhere, interrupt moves, and are sold oddly. Like where Uematsu is taking the lead but “collapses”. And you can kinda see why wrestlers never do that, because it doesn’t get over and the crowd is reduced to just “random people yelling”. It doesn’t get over until they pay off all of that with a surprise kickout after Uematsu teases a KO and gets wiped out with a dramatic elbow smash or two. And then Uematsu, after selling most of the match, scores a miracle last-minute win.

Rating: ** (didn’t really get over for the most part, looking more “scrappy” than “good” with no flow or cohesion to it, but it paid off a bit with some dramatic kickouts by Toshie, into her surprise win)

AKIRA HOKUTO vs. SONOKO KATO:
* The Dangerous Queen takes on the frequently-injured, increasingly-written-out Kato. I’m guessing this one goes the 2nd Generation’s way. Kato, her neck in a brace, has a bokken to match Hokuto’s… and jumps her before the bell!

Kato hammers away with the bokken until the ref tries to pull her off, and Hokuto’s able to stuff the next shot and disarm her. Hokuto finally disrobes to pop the crowd with her wicked golden outfit variant. They play a good game of keepaway for a bit, Kato bailing to avoid Hokuto, then repositions to keep Hokuto out of the ring until it’s a SWORDFIGHT, easily won by Hokuto smashing Kato’s bokken and smashing her repeatedly. But Kato escapes and has the temerity to try STRANGLEHOLD GAMMA (Hokuto’s husband’s finisher), Hokuto barely escaping. Kato breaks free of the counter-hold and hits a jujigatame to stop a Dangerous Queen Bomb. Hokuto takes an armbreaker but threads it into her lethal backdrop head-spike, but Kato NO-SELLS… only to collapse. She tries enough kicks to finally bring Hokuto down, but keeps getting countered by slaps, but manages to counter a lift into an ugly backslide… for THREE?! KATO PINS HOKUTO (3:42)!!! The crowd goes BANANA for that one (I mean Yamada losing is one thing, but the DANGEROUS QUEEN?), but I call bullshits- her arm was totally up at “3”!

Rating: * (hard to assess given how short it was- it was basically a scrappy swordfight and a pullapart into an upset win)

Kato looks as surprised as I am, haha.

DEVIL MASAMI vs. MEIKO SATOMURA:
* Probably the biggest of the matches sees the star trainee going against Devil, former Ace of Zenjo and a dominant star throughout the ’90s. Devil comes out with her head down, looking as unenthused as humanly possible, which isn’t the best for such a big match. Real “okayyyyyy let’s get this over with…” energy, lol.

They play it slow and hesitant to start (which is good- this is a 26-minute video!)- Meiko eventually uses speed to try and wear down Devil, but gets dodged and it’s back to square one. Devil finally weathers the storm and clobbers her, building up the fans to a big lariat for two. I like how Devil keeps waiting her out and picking her spots, still dominating. Meiko won’t let her have a superplex but gets knocked to the floor, stalked by Devil wielding a METAL bokken, clanging it against the lighting rig & post on missed swings to emphasize the danger! Meiko finally kicks it away and they brawl on the ramp, Devil easily picking her spots again with big chops and countering Meiko’s greater offense. Devil works a sleeper to take the fight out of her, counters a snap-DVD, and laughs off Meiko’s attempt at the Pele Kick (was that a botch she cleverly covered?)- Meiko has to resort to an armbar. She works the arm a WHILE, then fires out of the corner with an elbow, but gets dumped to the floor trying her Super Jujigatame. But Meiko snaps the arm a couple times and THEN gets it, finally having a real weak point! Devil sells big (you can tell because I can rate the quality of 1990s Japanese dentistry via her screams of pain). Good reaction for Meiko responding to a rope-break by just hauling Devil to the center for another. Devil’s finally worn down enough- Death Valley Driver!

Devil kicks out, then catches Meiko with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to buy herself some time- Meiko of course sells that like 10 minutes of beating, immediately putting them even. Devil naturally follows up with a big powerbomb- Meiko tries to no-sell, but Devil just goes “0-0 FINE THEN!” and lariats the shit out of her for two. Devil, grimacing in agony and holding her arm, sells to avoid having to immediately follow-up, then tries to blow it off to the fans like “hahah it’s not a bother, see?” while slapping her arm, but she’s weakening- Meiko avoids the powerbomb, then this time COUNTERS the “counter-lariat” and swings her into the DVD! … but now DEVIL no-sells, and this time it works because she catches Meiko’s kick and threads that into a Ligerbomb! Big reaction for the kickout. Devil, amused, tastes victory, but takes her time setting up a Ligerbomb finish and Meiko snaps on an armbar from there! Different arm than before, though, so Devil’s able to roll out. Devil is weak enough that Meiko easily escapes a sleeper for a Pele Kick/DVD combo for two. Meiko pulls her up for more, but Devil starts no-selling her strikes again, bludgeons her down, and hits a big Ligerbomb- two! Devil tries to finish, but Meiko springs out and hits kicks until one gets “flush” enough, but Devil kicks out of the DVD at ONE, so Meiko gets a mother of an angry reaction and does it again for the same result, but the THIRD actually puts Devil down- Meiko pins Devil (17:29)! Meiko gets all “YEAH I DID IT!” to her, Devil clapping at first but getting in her face all defiant with a look of amusement, and when Meiko tries to DVD her again, Devil snags her and hits a motherfucking STEINER SCREWDRIVER, Meiko being stunned while Devil just claps and laughs! Meiko just gets up, stares at her, and leaves while Devil’s like :).

haha what a pair of expressions, lol.

A very long, simple match- Devil is badly hobbled by injuries and far past her prime, so it was best to do the “long, arduous match” thing with lots of limbwork because speed and bumping are no longer her friend. It did a good job putting over Meiko as more evened up with the super-veterans, as she’s now this dangerous threat thanks to persistence, speed, and effort. Great psychology here with Devil repeatedly selling the arm to show vulnerability/Meiko’s skill, then Meiko doing the “GAEA No-Sell” and paying for it, paying off when she A) avoids Devil’s next lariat, having learned her lesson and B) Devil does the same thing, but as a tougher veteran is able to counter Meiko. The moves got kinda sloppy and slow by the end, but Devil’s good enough to take advantage of the “slow & steady” approach and not rush into things, using selling to cover for the lack of speed (many wrestlers would have biffed it on that “lift Meiko out of her kick into the ligerbomb” spot, but Devil knew to hang in there until they could both get balanced and Meiko could help with the lift). While I tire of the “kick out at ONE!” thing, finding it cheapens finishers, at least it’s like… Devil the super-veteran and Meiko the subordinate with a move that’s confirmed as never pinning people the first time, and Meiko ultimately just kept at it until Devil couldn’t. The finish is a bit odd, wrecking Meiko’s sense of victory by just beating her up again. But you maybe gotta do things like that to convince the veterans to job.

Rating: ***1/2 (actually a very impressive match- a masterclass of how good selling and timing can counter someone’s lack of physical ability)

MAYUMI OZAKI vs. CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA:
* Last pairing! GAEA randomly went all-in on Chikayo this past year, as if going “SHIT! Kato’s always hurt and we forgot to build up the others!” so now she’s wrestling main eventers to the limit and looking great in tags. But with 5 GAEA wins in a row they can’t POSSIBLY be thinking of a complete run of the field, CAN THEY? Never mind that Ozaki never jobs. This has been building a WHILE, with them getting into scraps in tag matches owing to Ozaki being the senpai to Chikayo & Sugar since like late 1995. Chikayo’s discomfort as an angered, defiant Ozaki stares her down is palpable. Boss move wearing her old “OZ Academy” jacket, though.

Chikayo suckers Ozaki with a ton of urakens in a row before the bell, Ozaki trying to laugh them off but collapsing in pain, but counters the Fisherman’s Buster with a NASTY spike DDT & front facelock- alas, the crowd buys none of that. Ozaki slaps her around and even hangs off the top tearing at her arm, then does a running buckle bomb and knocks her over the top. Man why are buckle bombs total nothing “opening moves” bits in GAEA, lol? Powerbomb on the ramp and Ozaki waits her out a WHILE, then gets dragged under the ropes (obviously supposed to be a rana over but they didn’t get the lift on it) and German’d on the floor and eats a Flying Stomp off the top (big reaction)! Mandatory 30-second wait for a “Big sell” and then a regular flying stomp gets two (only one person claps). Then Chikayo builds up some clapping so she can run down the ramp, then slowly springboard into another stomp and lands the F-Buster for two. Ozaki immediately lands her own to draw even, and they do an ugly scrap with Chikayo on Oz’s shoulders until she’s sorta buckle-bombed again.

But Chikayo magically springs to life with two F-Busters and gets two, but does a run-up move to Ozaki up top and eats a huge Superbomb for two! At least that’s a double-down- this is getting MOVEZ-y. Humorously, the ref just ignores the ten-count and they spring to life with strikes until a third Ozaki uraken leads to a Running Ligerbomb for TWO- huge reaction on that kickout; the best of the match. Chikayo counters an F-Buster from a frustrated Ozaki for two, and an armbar into a series of twirling counters results in Chikayo’s F-Buster getting the same. Chikayo tries to finish, but gets the world’s shittiest powerbomb and openly sells the annoyance, then does a bad buckle bomb- she is REALLY not capable of hefting even Ozaki about with that over-the-shoulder bit. Like, she just lightly donked her head into the buckle there. Ozaki comes back with urakens but can’t land her Tequila Sunrise, and Chikayo spins around and hits her OWN for the pin at (10:28) for six in a row for the GAEA kids! The crowd pops huge for that one! Importantly, Ozaki has to be dragged away by the heels, while the students all do a group hug in the middle of the ring.

This one was an interesting example of a match being MOVEZ-y and bowling shoe ugly in execution but still getting the psychology and the timing right, so it’s still hard to assess. Like the CROWD loved it so obviously it was working, especially since they were dead-silent for much of it so they actually took some time to convince. But loose, sloppy holds, dropped powerbombs, weak moves and more were all over the place, and then you have stuff like “lol a Superbomb and then they wrestle for four more minutes”. Ozaki’s once wide moveset is now like 4 spammed moves, too, but she at least put effort into selling and frustration here. No “amused no-selling Ozaki” or stuff like that.

Rating: *** (sloppy shop and a bit heavy on huge moves a li’l early, but it worked! It got over!)

The build to the main event!

THE CRUSH GALS vs. AJA KONG & DYNAMITE KANSAI:
* It’s another CRUSH 2000 match! But who can face such a mighty squad? Oh, AJA KONG shows up with JWP’s former Ace, Dynamite Kansai- both former Aces in their own right, they were the most dominant two wrestlers of the Interpromotional Era, and their threre-match rivalry has now turned into a mutual respect, as tends to happen in Joshi (Defeat = Respect & Friendship is a very Japanese trope). The month earlier, Chigusa defeated Kansai with a kick, but Aja pinned Asuka following her Uraken (Spinning Backfist), thus setting up a Contest of the Gods- pro wrestling in its ultimate form. The Crush Gals show up to their ’80s pop theme, flanked by all of Chigusa’s trainees doing their “Crush Gals Hand Signal” along with them, which is epic… but the heel entrance has to be seen to be believed: they show up with Aja in a huge robe with a leopard-print lining, and Kansai in a high-collared armored monstrosity out of Fist of the North Star. “They look like they’re gonna ruin the Ninja Turtles’ fucking lives” is the quote from a Blog livewatch. This is COMPLETELY EPIC, especially once the ring fills with color-coded streamers for all the wrestlers.

And they go for the jugular immediately, Aja plastering Asuka with an Uraken and Chigusa tossing Kansai onto the pile to break up the pin. Then the heels hit a Sandwich Lariat (an old Gals spot from the ’80s) and Aja adds a Brainbuster for two. Okay, so we’re going right to murder, then. Kansai accidentally kicks Aja, who eats a spinning heel kick for two, but she lariats the Gals down with Kansai’s help. Chigusa eats lariats and Aja’s backdrop when she tries a comeback- Kansai tries a Gals Scorpion Deathlock but Asuka comes flying off the top to nail her. Then Aja runs in but it’s STEREO DEATHLOCKS for the heels! The Gals to their hand symbol to the cheering crowd in the process to maximize the moment- total veteran move. They add a Spike Piledriver to Kansai for two, then each team does a “partner on the apron cheats with a lariat” spot, but Asuka misses another and gets backdropped. Kansai does THE CLAW~~, but Chigusa kicks the hand away, Kansai clobbers her, then uses the OTHER hand to re-start the Claw- this match is awesome.

Aja comes in and gets backdropped, but no-sells and lariats Asuka down for two, then ducks Chigusa’s kick of interference so it hits Asuka. Kansai adds a flying double-foot stomp (OW), but Aja’s Back Elbow attempt ends up with her backdropped off the top for two. Chigusa in, and the Gals hit an interfering Kansai with a double-karate punch (another ’80s spot) so Chigusa can hit Aja with a Death Valley Driver for two. Chigusa adds another, and Aja still kicks out. Running Kneelift (a finisher, I think- that beat Kansai last month), but Kansai breaks up the pin. Aja stumbles into a tag, but Kansai’s Splash Mountain attempt is turned to an ugly pin, then the Running Kneelift connects (the fans pop) and now AJA has to save. Chigusa climbs, so Aja uses her metal can on both Gals and Kansai drags Chigusa mid-run for a Razor’s Edge, then Aja adds the Flying Back Elbow and Kansai lands the proper Splash Mountain- Asuka does a GREAT desperation save there. Chigusa looks dead (with a legit messed up shoulder), so Kansai plans DIE HARD (super splash mountain), but Asuka runs in and hits the Iconoclasm of all things from there, and Chigusa lands a Jerry Sags-tier “sack of shit” elbow off the top for two.

Chigusa, selling the shoulder like death, tags out to Asuka, who tries the Towerhacker Bomb (inverted fireman’s to ligerbomb) to Kansai, but settles for her spinning heel kick, but Aja Urakens her when she goes for a Powerbomb, so Kansai hits Splash Mountain and Chigusa launches Aja into them to save. A tired Kansai tags out at last, and Aja slaps Asuka awake, but misses the Uraken and eats a lariat/rolling kick double-team for two. Aja easily avoids the Towerhacker Bomb and uses the metal can and an Uraken, but Asuka kicks out! Asuka blocks one Uraken, so Aja spins the other way, hits her, then hits the proper one- love that spot- then gets another for two. Aja goes for the Avalanche Waterwheel Drop, but Chigusa uses the Owen Enzuigiri on Kansai and blocks it, allowing Asuka to FINALLY… FINALLY… hit the Towerhacker Bomb for two! Damn, Asuka is STRONG! Aja eats the Sandwich Lariat for two, then the DOOMSDAY DEVICE of all things, but Kansai saves. Everyone struggles to their feet, and Aja’s Uraken gets two. Desperate and furious, she rips the GLOVES OFF, preparing a barehanded Uraken, but Asuka ducks, Chigusa kicks Aja, and Asuka lands the Michinoku Driver for the three (14:24)- Gals win!! Aja talks shit after the match and they seem to lay out singles challenges, there’s some pullaparts, and the babyfaces toss money to the crowd.

This was an utter spotfest, but one of those ones where they replace all the flippy-flop and death-defying moves with murder. Straight away they’re going for finishers and callback spots, with everything designed to either impress or pop the crowd. Kick out of two DVDs? Why not- it’s early! Get hit by a finisher? Nah, do another big move 30 seconds later- it’s fine! ’80s Callback Spots lead to MDKs, though at least usually interference was required to kick out. This is so full of MOVEZ I had to do three paragraphs to recap a 15-minute bout. Selling was either “we’re dying” or “we can hit our moves fine”, but that’ll happen with this type of bout. One of the best matches on the tail ends of the careers of these women, and one designed around giving the crowd their money’s worth. They just added a ton of cool spots in there, with the Claw reversal, multiple finishers, interference, ’80s callbacks and revenge spots.

Rating: ****1/2 (probably the best match any of these women could have had at that point- a Spotfest of non-stop big moves with everyone desperately trying to save their partner so none of the moves felt worthless or diminished)

The postmatch, with some challenges laid out.

So uhhhhhhhhh GAEA loyalists win everything! Up and down the show it’s babyface wins and heel losses, as the 2nd Generation Army does job after job! So GAEA’s in good hands, right? WELL WAIT- of the wins, not all of them felt earned. Uematsu’s win over Yamada felt like a fluke with a brand-new submission hold, and Kato’s was DEFINITELY a fluke. Sugar absolutely earned the win over KAORU, though- eating her big moves, kicking out (avoiding only the finishers), then hitting her own big move for a win. In a weapons match, but still. Meiko & Chikayo were the big ones, beating their veteran opponents, ones who VERY rarely do jobs mind you, clean as sheets in crowd-pleasing wins. And even those were “come from behind/coulda gone either way” wins where the heel recovers after the match and challenges them again. Also, and this is kind of a big deal, none of the matches are ones anyone would rate over ***1/2 or so- most weren’t BAD, but 5th years versus veterans in big “put over the rising stars” matches should manage to have a COUPLE better than that, you know? Never mind that the crowd was only really into the last kickouts or pins in each bout.