Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan in 01.2001

GAEA JAPAN IN JANUARY 2001:
* We’ll start off with some GAEA Japan! Their 2001 playlist seems PACKED, with 11 matches in January alone! This ends up being so many, with such LONG matches, that I stop at 8, as this one features not only the huge World Title match between Aja Kong & challenger Mayumi Ozaki, but a mini-feud developing between Meiko Satomura and Dynamite Kansai, as Meiko racks up another veteran to fight! Also we get both comedy shenanigans with Sakura Hirota, and her asking to JOIN THE HEELS!

Jan. 14th, 2001:

AKIRA HOKUTO vs. SAKURA HIROTA:
* It’s Hokuto vs. a BULL NAKANO cosplay of Hirota’s, complete with harmless-looking plush pink nunchucks and tons of ass-padding to mimic Bull’s physique from her prime. Seeing Hokuto genuinely laugh at this shit is pretty amazing, especially since her normal persona is to smirk everything off.

Sakura immediately gets frightened of Akira and tries to get away, but is windmilled around by her hair and booted. She mimics Hokuto’s casual pose and delays for a while until Akira just snaps and gives her that short piledriver, but does a headstand that has Sugar Sato impressed on the floor, haha. She then does Cossack dances until Akira just somersault ass-slams her. But Sakura GETS THE NUNCHUCKS and whips Akira off the ropes (Hokuto doing the most hilarious “ugh, whatever” and just openly agreeing to go on running). Akira naturally doesn’t even react to the plush nunchuck, which surprises Sakura when she goes up for the Guillotine Legdrop and finds Akira just standing there. Hokuto then knocks her off the top, but Sakura starts Wyatt/Thekla-ing across the ring on a neck-bridge, cracking Hokuto up, then “cartwheels” out of the Dangerous Queen Bomb, but gets her ass kicked when she tries her corner ass attack. So Akira just backdrops her on her head and hits a vicious missile kick for two, and Sakura attempts to GIVE UP when Akira aims for the Northern Lights Bomb. Chigusa whacks her on the ass for that show of cowardice, allowing Akira to sneak up behind and finish with the DQ Bomb at (6:11 of 8:05 shown). Hokuto laughs off Sakura’s pleading promo afterwards (possibly an attempt at replicating the famous “Mima Shimoda begs to join LCO” angle from 1992).

Rating: ** (Another show, another amusing Hirota match- doing BULL NAKANO cosplay was perfect given Hokuto’s getting into wrestling because of Bull, and seeing Hokuto smiling and laughing through a match instead of wincing in agony the entire time is fun. Easy night for the Dangerous Queen!)

THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Dynamite Kansai, Toshiyo Yamada & Devil Masami) vs. THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Meiko Satomura, Toshie Uematsu & Saika Takeuchi):
* The veteran squad gets to take on one of the weaker three-girl squads the 3rd Gen can produce. Man WTF chance do they have? Devil’s in black, Kansai’s in white & green, Yamada is in hideous brown, Meiko’s in red, Toshie’s in black/green & Saika’s now in a bright-ass neon green two-piece with a skirt, all “striker” style.

The kids jump the heels at the bell and triple-team Yamada, but she quickly starts beating on Saika, but the kid’s armbar sets up flying stomps from her teammates. Yamada/Uematsu is uninteresting, but Kansai comes in with THE CLAW~~ and the heels beat up Uematsu for a while. Meiko/Devil is next up, with a slugfest turning into a sleeperhold nearfall from Devil. Kansai hits her murderous flying stomp for two and batters a defiant Meiko around, and Meiko does a great fire-up to briefly take the lead before Kansai starts killing her again. Meiko keeps grabbing her legs, so Yamada’s flying enzuigiri sets up the backdrop for two. Meiko lands a jujigatame, broken up by Devil, and Meiko’s allies fall, leaving her alone. But she lands a DVD, two Pele Kicks, and another Death Valley Driver FOR THREE at (11:26 of 11:56 shown), BEATING DYNAMITE KANSAI pretty much all by herself! Yeah okay, sacrificing Kansai for a “near-fluke but totally dominant” victory like that is a bold move. Kansai is enraged at herself after the match, inconsolable to her partners.

Rating: ** (very common GAEA “just a mess” match with a lot of uninteresting Uematsu bits, but Meiko firing up and just beating Kansai clean was pretty big)

AAAW WORLD TITLE:
AJA KONG vs. MAYUMI OZAKI:
* !!!! Okay, so Aja is the current World Champion of GAEA, but she & Ozaki are usually in the same stable.

We’re JIP with Aja beating on Ozaki in the stands, hitting her with the metal divider, then piledriving her on it. Ozaki eats multiple chairshots and goes off a raised area in the stands, then we’re clipped to a bloodied Oz throwing boots at a downed Aja- flying stomp to the arm! Aja has one of those great agonized reactions, but quickly snaps off the Brainbuster for two. Ozaki ties up her arm in the ropes, but gets kicked cannonballing off the top, then takes an oil can to the head a few times. A smug Aja tries the Tequila Sunrise (tiger/german suplex), then settles for a wheelbarrow German when Oz resists, then flattens her with a flying back elbow for two. Aja misses three urakens and hits the turnbuckle, then Oz smacks the arm with her staff and throws two urakens of her own for two. Ozaki pulls her up and gets DRILLED with an Uraken, but Aja sells the pain herself and collapses to her knees, so can’t capitalize. Another misses and she has to settle for the off-hand one for two, but climbs for her waterwheel drop and Oz naturally sunset bombs her off for two. Aja stuffs a ligerbomb (duh) so Oz settles for a running shotei into a flying knee to the nose for two. Aja counters the Tequila Sunrise to a pair of head kicks for two, but they Uraken each other’s hands twice and Oz gets the Sunrise for two. Uraken & Sunrise gets two. Aja springs up with an Uraken of her own for two and TAKES OFF THE GLOVES for her big “ender” spot. But Ozaki is faster and just peppers her with uraken after uraken, mixing in a TON of potatoes, finally hauling her down with persistence, only for Aja to fling her off at two. Aja charges at her, but Ozaki fires off another from the apron, then two more in the ring… for three (8:59 of 15:02 shown)! Ozaki is the new AAAW Champion! In a weird heel vs. heel match! But using Aja’s own move! They shake hands after the match, Aja now having lost the Queen of ARSION Title and the AAAW Title within a month of each other. And that’s not even the worst thing to happen to Aja in 2001!

A pretty weak, weird match- starts off as the typical vicious Aja beatdown, but Ozaki takes the lead when we skip a bit, then they do that “Ozaki & Kong are equals” thing that always looks funny given how dominant Aja normally is and how puny Ozaki is. That both are kind of set up as GAEA’s big heels seems to be neutralizing the fan reactions, or the match itself was, as they’re kinda cheering randomly, but hardly going “WOAHHHHHHHH!” for anything. Never mind Ozaki’s repetitive nature- eventually it’s all Sunrises & Urakens from her. A big issue is the missing bit- did Aja suffer a major hand injury, or did she just find a thing to sell for a while? Cuz it doesn’t lead to any nearfalls- just prevents Oz from being pinned once.

Rating: **1/4 (match was fine. Not nearly as dramatic, hard-fought, or brutal as you’d expect a World Title match to, though, even with blood and finisher spam)

The booking here is interesting, because it seems like it’s a delaying measure- Meiko was obviously the one they wanted unseating Aja and being “put over” at last… but they’d had the belt on Aja FOREVER, and so after 600+ days, they finally had her lose it to Ozaki. Because Meiko just isn’t ready yet and that’s clear.

JAN. 20th 2001:

THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada) vs. THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Meiko Satomura & Sugar Sato):
* The Kick Demons unite against Meiko, giving Kansai a chance for revenge.

Yamada/Sugar delay a bunch before doing some basics, then Kansai lariats the crap out of the kids, swatting away Meiko’s resistance easily. Meiko finally avoids a flying attack and Sugar takes over, hitting her flying back elbow & Ligerbomb for two on Yamada. Yamada scores a sloppy spinkick and Kansai adds another lariat, but Sugar throws boots after a dragon screw counter. Kansai tries no-selling Meiko’s kicks, but slowly collapses in a good bit, and a long fight up top sees Meiko & Sugar… sorta throw Kansai off their shoulders into the turnbuckle. Kind of a let-down after the dramatic struggle and pause, haha. Meiko can’t get the DVD, but adds Kawada kicks and the Pele kick again, but this time Kansai’s wise to it and blocks the second- Backdrop Driver gets two. Flying Stomp- “Fuck YOU!” bridge. Kansai hits a lariat & Yamada an elbow, but Sugar keeps breaking up pins until Yamada spinkicks her. This lets Meiko DVD her- Kansai breaks it up. Meiko DVDs her to stop a double-team, but Yamada hits the Diving Brain Kick for two. Meiko with a German & DVD to counter, gets lariated again by Kansai, but Sugar grabs her- Yamada scores a big running elbow, but stops to fight Sugar and walks into another DVD for three at (11:00), Meiko pinning another veteran.

A very, very simple “House Show Match”- Sugar was barely in it, Yamada was energetic but pretty loose, and Kansai pretty much only threw out lariats. Slack pace and weak offense abounded but Meiko showed effort, as usual.

Rating: ** (the most dreadful kind of thing to include on these comps- the “Long-Ass House Show Special”, lol- not actively bad but uninteresting)

JAN. 21st 2001:

SAKURA HIROTA (w/ Police) vs. SONOKO KATO:
* Another Sakura match, this time kinda dressed as Red Riding Hood, and with POLICE as her second! I… wait, this is just regular non-comedy Sakura then! Well that’s boring!

We’re mostly clipped here, with Sakura hitting her double-arm submission. We’re soon clipped to her leaping onto Kato’s shoulders, and Kato swings her into Kowloon’s Gate (sit-out dead-eye) for the pin at (3:28 of 6:40 shown). Nothing to this one.

THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU) vs. THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Chigusa Nagayo & Sonoko Kato):
* An interesting mix- KAORU beat Chigusa in a solo match a month before, while Sugar beat KAORU twice mid-year… wait, that’s Kato again- the description on this is wrong, hah.

The heels attack before the bell, beating up Chigusa’s team and smashing KAORU’s board over her head. She’s bleeding badly as the heels all grind away at her in the ropes, but we’re clipped to Kato’s fireman’s roll on Ozaki. Ozaki hits a sloppy uraken to escape and we’re clipped to Chigusa’s Razor’s Edge being stopped by KAORU’s giant board… and Excalibur (michinoku driver) pins Chigusa at (1:45 of 8:36 shown). I… oh that’s just a preface to the match described:

THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Akira Hokuto & KAORU) vs. THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Chigusa Nagayo & Sugar Sato):
* Chigusa/KAORU again, with different allies this time.

The babyfaces take turns beating on KAORU, and Chigusa busts herself open firing off headbutts. Chigusa has to be prevented from punching the shit out of her, but settles for a slap, and then punches her board away when KAORU tries a sneak attack. Things deescalate with Hokto/Sato, Sugar literally throwing her weight around with body attacks and stuff, but KAORU sets up a piledriver, then Police and Sakura run in to interfere. Hokuto hits a dangerous backdrop on Sugar, who barely sells, body attacks KAORU, and tags out- Chigusa no-sells KAORU’s board until Hokuto comes in with her bokken, the two nailing her until Excalibur gets two. Chigusa gets a kneeling falcon arrow- Hokuto saves. KAORU slickly turns a DVD attempt into an inverted DDT for two, but gets German’d and a Rocket Launcher gets two. KAORU soon counters Sugar and gets a Moonsault, and the Dangerous Queen Bomb gets two and Chigusa has to save Sugar from Stranglehold Gamma. Chigusa again eats a big board shot, but Sugar breaks off a piece and goes to town on the heels with it! This leaves KAORU vulnerable… and the Spiral Bomb (spinning ligerbomb) pins her at (8:00)! Sugar beats KAORU again! Pretty funny since KAORU had had CHIGUSA’s number in all their matches.

Another pretty house-showy tag match, but better than the last one, with a more consistent pace, psychology and big moves rather than repetition.

Rating: **1/2 (actually not bad!)

THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Mayumi Ozaki & Dynamite Kansai) vs. THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Lioness Asuka & Meiko Satomura):
* Kansai/Meiko again! But with stronger seconds!

Kansai tries to finish Meiko quickly, but she & Asuka lariat each other (sold with a great “that hurt my mouth” sell by Kansai). The heel army quickly pounces on Asuka, who tries to fight back, but can’t manage much until she double-clotheslines Oz & Hokuto, then boots her table at Ozaki (“chotto”, says the announcer, as the spot looked like shit). Asuka gets her Flying Stomp to the table, then a Ligerbomb- Kansai saves. Oz with a sleeper, then Asuka, and a blue thunder bomb gets two. Meiko psyches out Oz with a big head kick, and a backdrop suplex/frog splash gets two. DVD gets two- Kansai saves. Oz finally escapes and Kansai starts with the kicks as Meiko/Kansai finally begins. Three Backdrop Drivers wear Meiko down, and when Lioness comes in, she’s jumped by 5-6 people, ending with Meiko taking a big assisted powerbomb/kendo stick smash from the heels. But to pay that off, Lioness stops Splash Mountain, and the CRUSH GALS … also get beaten up when they try their Double Crush Punch. Aw. But Meiko scores a lucky DVD on Kansai- but this time doesn’t beat her, as Oz saves. But GAEA’s loyalists tie up the heels outside so Meiko can hit two more for a near-fall. A fourth one hits, but Kansai is up first and Meiko is outta gas. A few strikes set up Splash Mountain, Kansai getting her pin back at (11:14)- the feud must continue!

Okay enough match for most of it- tons of cheating to set up the harsh penalties against the good guys, then Meiko/Kanasai’s rivalry is paid off with another step- this time Meiko can get the veteran alone, but NOT pin them, and Kansai is able to weather the storm and leave a vulnerable Meiko helpless with a few shots to set up her finisher. Obviously this is leading towards a single match at some point.

Rating: **3/4 (the best one so far)