Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan in Winter 2001

GAEA JAPAN (Jan. 27th):
* It’s time for more GAEA Japan! This is a combination of shows- a Jan. 27th one with a big Meiko Satomura vs. Dynamite Kansai match to pay off their month-long rivalry, plus CRUSH2000 challenges for the AAAW Tag Titles against Mayumi Ozaki and Akira Hokuto! After that, it’s a Feb. 2nd show with more of the veteran squad fighting Chigusa’s trainees! A Feb. 18th OZ Academy show! Then a Feb. 25th house show!

P & A (Police & Sakura Hirota) vs. Toshie Uematsu & Saika Takeuchi:
* Sakura Hirota’s goofy “heel turn” has led to her and Police being a comedy duo (with Sakura as “Akura” now I guess). And they take on the two spare GAEA wrestlers!

Police responsds to a Green Girl double-team with a double-clothesline and starts doing the “headbutt the turnbuckle” tough-guy thing for comedic intent. He then shows his lack of training by spiking himself on the top of his head taking a headscissors. Sakura takes pratfalls against Saika, but Police swings Toshie around after using a nightstick. Sakura does her double-arm submission and bites Toshie’s head, then Police does a long bit on Saika, showing why he doesn’t like… work actual matches often. Toshie missile kicks him but flies off onto his feet, and he hits a long shoulderbreaker. Sakura has a busted lip from something, and Police press-slams Saika onto Toshie. Sakura accidentally urakens Police and gets Armsaulted for two- Police saves. Sakura gets mad when he boots her by accident, and is Dragon Suplexed- again he saves. But when Police gets kicked in the nuts, Toshie falls over him and Sakura pounces with a Byers Bridge for the pin at (8:46).

Rating: * (in general, Sakura matches out of cosplay are HORRIBLE, and this was no exception, especially as Police himself isn’t a real worker. Too long and not enough comedy spots)

THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Devil Masami & KAORU) vs. THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Chikayo Nagashima & Sugar Sato):
* One of the top heels teams with one of the most vulnerable against the former Tag Champs. The heels are in black, Chikayo yellow & Sugar white.

The kids pick on Devil with their speed, but she brings back the “whips them when they grab her hair” spot and lariats both down at once. KAORU/Sugar do a weak sequence and end up on the floor, leading to KAORU’s now-standard Early Match Senton Thru the Table. The Boardsault hits but the ref won’t count. KAORU misses a moonsault but “hits” a tornado DDT that is mostly her whirring her legs like a cartoon character cuz she missed the corner and just does an ugly regular DDT. Devil actually sells a body attack from Sugar, but easily kicks out of Chikayo’s flying stomp, and easily avoids the Fisherman’s Buster but ends up German’d. Chikayo nearly gets powerbomed but tries to counter to her “upside-down ropes hold” but slips and gets Ligerbombed for two. Lots of clumsiness and “random kicking” here. KAORU faceplants Chikayo off her shoulders but gets rana’d to the apron off the top rope, Devil takes a flying stomp to the floor, and Sugar splatters KAORU with a plancha. Three sloppy Rocket Launcher Stomps get two on KAORU, then Sugar gets a Ligerbomb for two. Devil lariats her so KAORU can get a Brainbuster for two, Moonsault fails, so a rana gets two. KAORU no-sells a powerbomb and hits Excalibur (Michinoku driver), then sells. Sugar now uses her weight as a weapon, firing off body attacks until KAORU sells, but she gets PLASTERED by her board, then Excalibur gets two. Chiakyo saved, so Devil murders her with a legdrop to the back of the head, but KAORU now blasts HER with the board by accident- Devil no-sells and lariats Chikayo, but gets held down long enough for Sugar to recover and hit a Slingshot Ligerbomb for the three at (10:34), picking up an unexpected win! Sugar really has KAORU’s number!

A pretty clunky “a lot of the spots are just someone running in with a face kick” stuff, the other person standing there in a dizzied state so someone can kick them. Devil & KAORU were moving like injured people and Sugar wasn’t much better, and Chikayo’s usual good execution also saw plenty of slips (the rope-submission; her stomps). Really the only good part was the ending (which was unexpected, since KAORU beat Chigusa not that long ago and I figured they were re-heating her).

Rating: *1/2 (just really messy and ugly for a lot of it, with little flow)

MEIKO SATOMURA vs. DYNAMITE KANSAI:
* Meiko’s journey through the veterans continues, and now KANSAI is her opponent! This pays off the build for the month, as Meiko scored a shocker three-count earlier in a six-woman tag, so now Kansai has a bone to pick.

We start off with some good “Kansai is too powerful to sell” stuff, but she overdoes it and runs into an armbar, now fights defensively. She gets a short-lariat and THE CLAW~~ to counter Meiko’s speed, then shrugs her off and hits a DECISIVE elbow smash. Meiko gets over-aggressive and etas the Kansai flying stomp for two. Mieko won’t give her Die Hard (splash mountain off the top) and catches her with a jujigatame for a long fight. Kansai is really good at selling this “annoyed but can’t get over-confident” thing, as she knees Meiko but gets caught by a European uppercut and gives this great “you fuckin’…” look for it. And sure enough, gets caught in the Death Valley Driver when she stumbles in, giving up a nearfall. Kansai is still stumbling, fighting out of a second one, but manages a lethal high-kick that nearly kills Meiko. Meiko fights up at “5” but is immediately hit with a big lariat for two- “Fuck YOU!” bridge! Kansai still batters her around but gets caught in submissions and eats a Pele Kick after the first misses, and again has to catch Meiko overdoing it via a lariat.

Meiko charges into another massive high-kick for two. Splash Mountain hits emphatically… for two! Kansai’s “WTF?” face of confusion is perfect and actually earned given it’s her actual finisher. She just starts nodding to herself like “…. yep… yep she kicked out of it…. I guess Meiko dies tonight… yep, gonna kill her”. lol rewatching it I see Devil laughing on the floor. So Kansai preps DIE HARD, but Meiko rapid-fire elbows her to get her away, then uses the top rope to build momentum for a SUPER Pele Kick, followed by a regular one into the DVD… for two! Same kickout as Meiko had with the same timing! Another DVD- same result. Meiko is desperate, and when Kansai tries Splash Mountain again, hits her with another Pele-to-DVD… for two! Kansai springs to life on the mat, but can’t get up- she fights off some DVD attempts but keeps eating Pele Kicks- she blocks one but the pain hurts so bad she’s open for another, kicks out, then Meiko hits ANOTHER one… for the pin (10:00)! Meiko pins Kansai solo and the crowd goes BANANA. Kansai stares daggers at her once she recovers, being almost like “YOU beat me? YOU?”, and a defiant Meiko just stares back.

A fun Big vs. Little match that ended up in Finisher Trading, but felt “earned”- Kansai had sold well that Meiko was too fast so she had to pick and choose her spots and counters, until finally hitting Splash Mountain… but too early in the match to finish. So Meiko hammered her with repeated “set-up to finisher” moves over and over again, each one seeming like it COULD be it (as they’d been jobbing vets to Meiko for a WHILE now). And of course Meiko can’t just hit one finisher and win, so she has to use Finisher Beamspam, but this time it’s Pele Kicks (an established “can catch a veteran” move), so Kansai can shrug off a million, but is too dazed/stunned to repeatedly kick out so one finally wears out her health bar. You could see from this match that Kansai was a shell of her former self, but she still had timing and attitude and that counts for a lot, and it actually worked for the match because it was clear that Meiko was running circles around her and that this persistence would be necessary.

Rating: ***1/2 (a very fun example of “Finjisher Spam” done right)

AAAW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES:
THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Mayumi Ozaki & Akira Hokuto) vs. CRUSH 2000 (Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka):
* The Crush Gals Return!! Chigusa & Lioness now take on the top heels for the Tag Belts they recently won.

The heels come at them with wooden swords at the ready, but eat stereo shots and stereo dives, and Ozaki takes the Double Crush Punch and flying elbow/backdrop suplex combo, so Hokuto has to save! Ozaki badly messes up a Manami Roll so they improvise by beating on her and even hit a Spike Piledriver! Ozaki kicks out and starts firing back (good thing piledrivers don’t mean shit in joshi), but Hokuto eventually saves her with a big chairshot. Chigusa takes on multiple heels on the floor while Hokuto lands two more big chairshots (the last appearing to blast the seat off and hit her in the face). Ozaki covers by biting Asuka while Hokuto is hunched over against the ropes, and she finally walks back in with her nose bleeding all over the place.

Hokuto at least knows EXACTLY how to sell an unexpected nose smash.

Asuka blades and they step on her a bunch- Oz’s flying knee to the forehead has Asuka collapsing on a whip, and an assisted cannonball gets two. Ozaki hits a backfist for two, and Chigusa has to nail Hokuto to stop Stranglehold Gamma, then tags herself in to hit a DVD & Running Razor’s Edge for two. lol why is Ozaki just running around aimlessly during all that? She finally uses a chair to break up the pin and Chigusa no-sells a bunch of her stuff until she’s caught with a whiffed uraken into the Tequila Sunrise for two. A terrible Ligerbomb with no height on it gets two, and Ozaki spams urakens until Chigusa falls into a tag. Ozaki AGAIN messes up a Manami Roll but thankfully Asuka’s really strong and hauls her into the Towerhacker Bomb- Hokuto swings her sword but Asuka pulls Ozaki into the way off the pin. Oz takes the Crush Sandwich Clothesline but Hokuto bokkens Chigusa so a rana can get two. Ozaki peppers Asuka with urakens until she gets two, then Hokuto flies off with a chairshot. Lioness smokes her with the rolling kick when Hokuto tries the DQ Bomb, but Chigusa flies off the top and nails her, she takes another big chairshot, then a metal sign, and Hokuto pins her with the Northern Lights Bomb at (9:29).

Another ugly-ass “everyone fights in the ring the whoel match” GAEA bout, with Ozaki her typical sloppy self. Hokuto bashing herself in the schnozz good and early probably didn’t help, either. The match turned into “both vs. Asuka” and then “both vs. Chigusa”. Ozaki wouldn’t sell for very long, and poor Hokuto is so hurt she can’t help BUT sell, then you have Oz messing up a bunch of moves (sloppy urakens, low-rise ligerbomb, messing up TWO “roll up the opponent’s body” moves) and a pretty anticlimactic finish. There ends up being no flow when you fight an entire match like it’s in “Tornado Tag” rules, especially when you keep spamming the same moves (urakens, chairshots). And this lack of peaks & valleys means the fans aren’t really into that much of it, because you can’t even see the match peaking.

Rating: *1/2 (just another “big mess of people runnin’ around” match, one ending almost prematurely)

FEB. 2nd:

SAKURA HIROTA vs. THE BLOODY (JD’):
* More “Akura Hokuto” as Sakura takes on a JD’s invader.

Comedy spots abound, as Sakura stinkfaces Blood, then calls in POLICE to do the same (you can catch Bloody laughing in close-up), then Sakura headbutts her in the ass and does her double-arm/head-bite submission in the corner. Funny bit as a “slap exchange” is just Bloody repeatedly intercepting Sakura with slaps. Blood pounds on her and tosses a chair into her stomach, but Sakura lures her into an ass-butt and a flying ass for two. She tries an overwrought headbutt and ends up in a Liontamer, but fires off urakens (once shoving the ref in the way to prevent a counter) and a Flair Uppercut (which Bloody actually sells). Flying Senton gets two for Bloody. Sakura hits her Cross-Armed German for two, but Bloody counters the next into a kneeling straightjacket hold and gets the submission win at (6:43).

Rating: *1/2 (like most “Sakura Comedy Matches” without cosplay, it’s a bit too long and isn’t as funny)

SUGAR SATO vs. KAORU:
* lol, really? A revenge match ALREADY? Sugar already got a bunch of wins last year!

KAORU attacks Sugar from the apron and hits her 2nd-rope moonsault to the floor already, but both get their flying attacks countered. They do some slow, clunky apron spots and KAORU hits a moonsault press for two as the crowd is deathly silent. I’m detecting a new “GAEA Style” forming- lots of standing around and yelling, then doing running kicks to the head. That Crush match and this one are just FILLING it with that. KAORU lands a bunch of half-speed board shots, and speaking of the Kick of Fear, Sugar counters the table-senton with one. Ligerbomb gets two. Sugar charges into KAORU’s shoulder and takes a Brainbuster for two. KAORU grabs the board but smashes it on the ringpost and gets powerbombed on the floor, and a Ligerbomb gets two. Running Ligerbomb gets two, and KAORU counters the Spinning one for two. Sugar blasts her with a board, but gets countered to Excalibur for two. Two more get the pin at (7:57) of an uninteresting, sloppy match that’s just a mess of people yeeting thesmelves at one another and being very clumsy. The fans were bored the whole time.

The universal sign of fans watching a KAORU match.

Rating: *1/2 (another really bad KAORU performance, but Sugar is looking sloppy and unbalanced now, too)

THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Chigusa Nagayo, Meiko Satomura & Chikayo Nagashima) vs. THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Mayumi Ozaki, Devil Masami & KAORU):
* Wait, KAORU’s wrestling twice? This is Chigusa and her top two students against two of the 2nd Gen leaders plus KAORU. I suspect this is KAORU (given a win earlier as “payment”) doing the job to give Chigusa some “revenge” for the Crush loss.

Chigusa & Devil do their age-old rivalry stuff, which is a good bit that justifies a slower pace and “can you top this?” counters. Chigusa defies Devil’s headbutts and does one of her own, but KAORU bashes her with the board after a rolling kick. KAORU works over her arm with the board, stomping on it repeatedly, Ozaki flies onto it, and Excalibur hits. Chigusa’s so dead her trainees hit the ring to stop the pin and she lies there a while, but she was playin’ possum… and stil gets drilled in the head. Chigusa blades and again her kids save her repeatedly, Chikayo flying onto KAORU on a pin and charging the corner. Chigusa finally tags out and Chikayo slips off Devil on a counter but Germans her. Devil drops her on KAORU’s board and Devil’s Ligerbomb gets two. Ozaki with a buckle bomb & shotei, but Chigusa runs in and fights everyone. But KAORU stops a powerbomb and Oz goes for a superplex on Chikayo, who “lands on her feet” (ass) and hits the Fisherman’s Buster for two. Oz counters another with her own, then pounds down Meiko but gets caught in a DVD when she tries her “shoulder-mounted” arm submission. She kicks out at one, blocks a Pele kick and Ligerbombs Meiko for two, then hits a Doomsday Device DDT (!!), Chikayo saving after escaping Devil. Sounded a little better than it looked (the Steiners they are NOT) but okay. Everyone scraps but Devil hits Chikayo with the Steiner Screwdriver (more of an over-the-shoulder though- her head was a mile off the mat). KAORU uses a giant stick, gets DVD’d, but Meiko takes the Tequila Sunrise for two. Shitty uraken gets two. Meiko counters to a Pele Kick, but Ozaki counters the DVD with a Byers Bridge… but Meiko flips around mid-lean so she catches Ozaki with a sunset flip for the win (14:20)! Meiko the Veteranslayer strikes again!

Not as bad as the other ones, but still mostly a long multi-person scrap leading to an out of nowhere finish. At least this one received a build and had people killing each other with big moves. Meiko getting a flash-pin rather that finisher spam also worked, as she pins the Champion to set up something in the future, but it’s not decisive… but as an extra wrinkle, is more or less how Ozaki scored a ton of victories in her younger years- flash pin city!

Rating: **1/4 (a bit of a good version of the “clusterfuck GAEA match”)

OZ ACADEMY (Feb. 18th):

MEIKO SATOMURA & SUMIE SAKAI vs. CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA & CARLOS AMANO:
* Well this is unexpected! Meiko teaming with JD’s Sakai against Chikayo, plus JWP’s Amano! Been a while since I’ve seen Amano (who was once a big part of OZ Academy). Sakai’s in blue, and Carlos is in a black bodysuit now.

Meiko’s team charges, but Sakai ends up beaten up and rolled into a double jujigatame. Sakai fires out with a Jaguar-style bridge-out and a lionsault press for two. Meiko & Carlos do a good chain-wrestling routine (GAEA lakcs those) and brawl it out and Carlos catches Meiko’s kick on her BACK and spins around into an anklelock. Damn I’ve missed her. She even bites the shoe for extra pain. Chikayo missile kicks Meiko, then Sakai hits a spinning headscissors on Chikayo, who counters with a great wheelbarrow German. Sakai gets a good judo-flip into a nearfall submission on Chikayo, but gets caught upside-down from the top in Chikayo’s own hold. Carlos dives onto both opponents & tries a jujigatame, but Meiko flying stomps her, provoking a brawl. Sakai hits a Fujiwara armbar on Chikayo, then Meiko dumps Carlos onto her and she immediately snaps on a jujigatame, haha. Sakai with rolling backdrops suplexes and Chikayo does another “run around in a circle” pin-break. Meiko ducks a Carlos kick and catches her with the momentum of her own miss for two. Carlos with an elbow/jujigatame counter, then a long fight up top sees a Chikayo super rana get two. Sakai hits her own on Chikayo, then Meiko’s Pele Kick gets two, but Chikayo gets her own armbar. Chikayo gets that upside-down submission, gets a pop for sititng up to avoid Sakai’s dropkick, but this lets Meiko thread it into a DVD for two. A second is countered to a rana, rolled through for two- Carolos saves. Finally, Meiko spams European uppercuts, misses the Pele, but turns the shoulder-mounted armbar into a DVD, Chikayo spins out, but Meiko simply spins her the OTHER way to complete the DVD for three at (12:06).

Well that was peppy! I barely see Amano or Sakai but you can tell they’re still fast and healthy- GAEA has gotten clunkier and clunkier due to issues, so this is like a flashback to 1998 because for some reason those wrestlers aren’t as hurt. It’s wild seeing how slick and speedy every move can be when wrestlers feel like htey’re in their prime. Lots of good spots you don’t get in regular GAEA.

Rating: **3/4 (if it’d been more hard-fought and epic, it could have easily crossed that threshold, but despite the speed they were fine with “really good indie match” with mostly GAEA’s wrestlers in the end-run)

FEB. 25th:
* This is from a GAEA house show.

CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA vs. SAKURA HIROTA:
* More comedy in a shorter match.

We’re JIP with Sakura doing headstands and a stinkface, but Chikayo bites the ass to come back- psychology! Sakura then punches her in the vagina (really) and grinds her face against much of the ring. A flying ass gets two, but Chikayo uses her upside-down hold into a victory roll for two. Chikayo misses a flying stomp but gets a regular one, but Sakura gets her rolling cradle and slugs her after missing urakens. Sakura with a Police-assisted uraken, Chikayo with a German, but then Police interrupts the Fisherman’s Buster and gets chased around… and Sakura trips Chikayo and pins her at (5:08 of 6:01) shown! Unexpected!

Rating: 1/2* (regular-ass Sakura quasi-comedy match)

THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Lioness Asuka & Toshie Uematsu) vs. THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Dynamite Kansai & KAORU):
* An interesting mix of talent here- I don’t normally see these women teaming.

Immediatley the heels pounce, Kansai hitting her flying stomp on Toshie and KAORU fucking up her boardsault by hitting with her lower body only. KAORU lands Excalibur and a board shot, but Asuka finally gets in, kicking her ass. Weird lionsault (way too close so Lioness catches her and has to “fall back”), but Lioness wins a long series of counters and powerbombs her into a table against the ropes, then does her table stomp. KAORU can BARELY hoist her for the Brainbuster, holding her up a frightfully long time for it. Lioness dodges a heel double-team and ligerbombs KAORU for two. Lioness & Kansai lariat their opponents down, then ram into each other, but Kansai gets a double CLAW~~ on both her & Toshie, then pulls Toshie in the way when Lioness gets out and throws a huge kick- clever! Lioness manages to catch her with a slap/Iconoclasm, setting up Toshie’s flying splash. They batter Kansai around, but Uematsu’s caught in a backdrop driver, then kicked coming off the top rope. KAORU has to hold up Toshie when she messes up a rollup counter to the Brainbuster, and the next is countered to the Double-Wrist Armsault for two. But KAORU gets h er board, nails Toshie a few times, gets Asuka to lariat it, then finishes Toshie with Excalibur at (9:41).

Rating: ** (“House Show Match 101”- perfectly fine but altogether uninteresting. A bit botchy but some parts were okay)

THE SECOND GENERATION ARMY (Mayumi Ozaki & Sakura Hirota) vs. THE THIRD GENERATION ARMY (Chigusa Nagayo & Chikayo Nagashima):
* Ozaki now leads young Sakura, who insists the veteran follwo her “P & A” routine with the hand letters. “C & C” soon show them up, however.

More Sakura comedy routines, as she do-si-dos with Chikayo while Police is knocked off the apron by Chiugsa, then Chigusa crushes her hand in a test of strength. Sakura takes her down via a finger to the ass but can’t remember how an STF works, but manages a stinkface. Chigusa/Mayumi go, Oz pulling off a Ligerbomb. Chigusa sets up Chiakyo’s rana, then does a Ligerbomb herself, then Chikayo gets her Fisherman’s Buster for two. Oz gets her own after the first is countered, getting two. They stumble around and fire off strikes until both are down, and Chigusa beats up Sakura again. Sakura bites her way out of a powerbomb, dropping Chigusa to her knees… but tries a rana and powerboms herself as a result in another comedy spot. She telegraphs putting her legs up on a Rocket Launcher and gets beaten again, she & Ozaki accidentally uraken each other, and Chigusa trips up Sakura, allowing Chikayo to pin her at (10:29), repaying the loss earlier in the show!

Rating: ** (another fine “house Show Special”- goofy comedy spots and running around, but oddly the lack of constant interference and Tornado Tag stuff makes it better than when they try to get cute)

Welllllllllll it looks like GAEA Japan has a new favorite thing: “instead of doing difficult, hard-to-time spots, let’s just stumble around and charge at each other with Yakuza Kicks” because a lot of matches are degenerating into just that. It looks sloppy, clumsy and altogether boring, so it’s NOT good that that’s taking over the main event scene, but injuries abound in the promotion. On the plus side, Meiko/Dynamite paid off and was very good in the end, and “Meiko the Veteran-Slayer” keeps ramping up until they can crown her.