Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan- Deep Endless

GAEA DEEP ENDLESS:
(Dec. 15th 2001)
* It’s the big GAEA Japan show near the end of the year! Meiko Satomura’s years-long build to the AAAW World Title leads to this! Will she finally win it on her third try against Aja, or will it be a “not yet, young Padawan?” moment? Also Las Cachorras Orientales have one of their final bit matches against Ozaki & KAORU’s heel asshole squadron D-FIX in a Moneyball match! Akira Hokuto fights AJW’s Miho Wakizawa! Oh, and the BEST DEBUT EVER, as a rookie comes out of GAEA’s training camp and has a LONG, hard-fought match with Chikayo Nagashima!

We start things off with a roll call, to show you how big a show it is! Kyoko Inoue is here! Also Miho Wakizawa just before she retires! Unfortunately the first two matches here have commentary so quiet YouTube won’t translate it.

AKIRA HOKUTO (GAEA/Freelance) vs. MIHO WAKIZAWA (AJW):
* Yes, Wacky’s retirement run continues and she gets to fight THE DANGEROUS QUEEN. This is an impossible task but may just be a gift to someone people liked, I dunno. This features a teary-eyed Wakizawa appearing before Hokuto and repeatedly bowing as she asks for a rare Hokuto singles match, and Akira granting it to her. This is actually Wakizawa’s second-last match before retirement (which lasts TEN YEARS and then she ends up in Stardom- no really!). Hokuto comes out in a BOSS rose-covered robe.

They shake hands before the bell… and of course Hokuto immediately spikes her with a near-vertical backdrop suplex. haha- PSYCHE! Wacky kicks out defiantly so Hokuto absolutely smashes her with a spinkick that had some STINK on it. Hokuto’s like “that’s iiiiiiiiiittttttt” to the yelling fans, but Wacky sneaks in a Fisherman’s Buster for two. Miho is just screaming her head off after every little thing, putting her whole career into this as she flails around with a backslide, and a botched leaping attack is countered by Hokuto with an armbar. GREAT reaction for Wacky paintbrushing her with a slap, Hokuto being like “…” before knocking her flat on her face with her own, haha. Wacky drags her off the top with a persistent frenzy of attacks, then counters Hokuto’s own reversal attempt by German-ing her off the second rope, missiling kicking her, slide-kicking her to the floor and ending with a big plancha. Hokuto appears quite disabled from that and struggles into the ring, where Wacky hits a regular fisherman’s suplex for two. Wonder if she’s babying that move because of Hokuto’s state. Flying splash gets two, as does a regular Buster (guess not). Two more each get two as Hokuto has to keep doing the “throw all your weight behind it” kickouts to escape Miho’s deep covers. Wacky argues the count, screams that it’s over and

NYYYYYYYYOPE!

Hokuto surprises her with the reverse-grip backdrop suplex! Big reaction for that kickout. Akira climbs but Wakizawa brings her down with her signature- Super Frankensteinerrrrrr but Hokuto completely no-sells and spikes her with a HUGE German- two! Dangerous Queen Bomb- two! Akira’s like “REALLY?” to the ref and claps to set up the Northern Lights… Wacky slugs her, but Hokuto splats her with a slap. Then another flattens her again. She waits her out and Wacky roars to life and is knocked flat again, then again, Wakizawa crying with defiance, and Akira beats her down again and the Northern Lights Bomb is the end at (7:56). Ahhaah now THAT’s how you build drama! Such is Hokuto’s sentimentality that she carries a giant yellow bouquet to the fallen and bawling Wakizawa, gives her a single handshake, then fucks off with her stick over her shoulder.

Wonderful showcase of how good Hokuto still is even with a shattered body- getting the most out of the last moments just with basic claps. Wakizawa gave her as good a fight as she could, spamming desperation finishers and hitting her biggest move… but the end was all Hokuto, who kept slapping her around to establish dominance and test her defiance, and finally just kills her.

Rating: *** (naturally one of the best-ever Wakizawa matches is against a crippled Hokuto, nearly retiring herself. Great drama and use of minimal offense to create a match)

TOSHIE UEMATSU (GAEA) vs. CARLOS AMANO (JWP):
* Amano heads over from JWP for a showcase of Toshie, who has a new short haircut and violent attitude. Toshie now has a BANDANA to complete the look, with leopard print on that and her gear.

Toshie attacks before the bell, but a defiant Amano turns this into a slugfest on the top rope, winning that but flying off into a dropkick. Neither gives the other an inch of ground, just tearing at one another and barely selling for a second before attacking during the other’s celebration. Carlos hits a lariat & strikes, but gets powerbombed trying mounted punches and Toshie spears her, Amano luring her to try another and hitting a sunset flip out of the corner. Toshie claps her ears to escape that and beats her down, showing heel viciousness, then does a prominent thigh-slap off a running knee. SO THOSE ARE ALL HER FAULT! She cranks on a sleeper, both pulling hair in it, but Amano sneaks in a SWEET rolling cross-armbreaker off a whip! Toshie quickly scores leverage and starts bootscraping her to escape, but Amano blocks the GOO PUNCH~~ with an armbar attempt, then slickly turns a punch counter into one on the OTHER arm, but Toshie rolls through and kicks her in the forehead for a good reaction. Then when AMANO charges in, Toshie counters her punch to a successful armbar- Amano screams “Baka!” as she hits a good leaping lariat but Toshie grabs the arm and BITES it, but Amano scores a second rolling cross-armbreaker, this one landing.

Toshie rolls to the floor and uses the bandana to trip Amano and strangle her, wraps it around her mouth, then throws some loud punches on the floor and repeatedly being a little psycho. Little jab-kicks while pulling her around by the neck, etc. Amano gets strangled in the ring and Toshie just wraps the banada around her fist for some direct punches, then Amano tries a big shoulder-mount armbar counter, but gets dropped into a Ligerbomb for two. Flying Splash gets two, then some knees set up a big Shoryuken uppercut, and her Dragon Suplex finisher gets two. The ref has to drag her off to prevent Toshie from raining down punches, and that sets up Amano’s sweet Bridging German for two. Amano dodges a kick and scores a huge rolling elbow, then her shoulder-mount into a Cross-Armbreaker for a big nearfall. An agrieved Amano just starts firing off elbows to let out her anger, but Toshie hits her Double-Wrist Armsault for two. Amano escapes the Dragon Suplex, but her rolling elbow hits a knee and Toshie drives one into her head with a THUD… for two! Toshie immediately goes for the Dragon again, but Amano lands on her feet, runs in place to build personal momentum, then charges in… misses a lariat and gets thrown into the ropes, but rolls backwards upside-down and rolls her up from there, desperately holding her down for three (11:12)! Amano wins!

hahah holy shit, this was GREAT! Toshie isn’t exactly a hurricane of great matches so this is always nice to see. Both girls were clearly going all-out, realizing this was a rare singles match on a big show and this was time to impress and go all-out with effort. Amano being so terrific upsets me that she’s stuck in JWP, which has a poor online presence after a point. She sells well and does very good doing “basic wrestling” well with no gimmicks. Just her selling here worked wonders in putting over Toshie, as she was acting like she got caught out on lots of things and treated all her dirty fighting like it was extremely upsetting, painful, surprising, and hard to counter. Toshie was good, too- getting some “little things” like pulling Amano around by the bandana and frequently throwing little jab-kicks into her mid-walk to be extra shitty about it.

Rating: ***1/2 (a really fantastic Uematsu match, and a showcase for how good Amano is)

Thankfully from here commentary is hearable and translatable.

SAKURA HIROTA & TIGERS MASK vs. EBESSAN & KAORI NAKAYAMA:
* Comedy match time! Hirota’s teaming with “Tigers Mask” (not a typo), while Kaori (from FMW’s old women’s division) is teaming up with Ebessan. Ebessan is of course (quickly Wikipedias) a comedy wrestler from Osaka Pro who was a parody of Ebisu, God of Good Fortune in Shinto Mythology. He did other stuff as Mitsunobu Kikuzawa, but I’m only familiar with this, and have never seen it. Tigers Mask is Atsushi Maruyama, and thankfully Wikipedia explains he’s a fan of the Hanshin Tigers and it’s a riff on the Tiger Mask gimmick (he’s in a baseball uniform-colored tights), which explains why Sakura’s dressed in the Chunichi Dragons team uniform. Sakura strips it off before the match to reveal… skimpy pink lingerie, but over top of her wrestling gear. “What is that ass?” sez commentary, adding “Hirota’s body doesn’t feel very sexy”. JUDGEMENTAL MUCH? Oh my god this video is 24 minutes long and I just realized it’ll all be Japanese cultural comedy.

Ebessan & Tigers Mask stall an impressively long time (Ebessan shouting that the fans are all out of rhythm when they chant for him), then suddenly pull out a Tiger Mask-style wristlock counter into a lightning fast “trip and pin” combo for genuine fan applause. Kaori briefly fights Tigers and hits a spinning DDT, then Hirota comes in and the girls do a comically slow version of the chain-wrestling the boys did, the Hirota does the worst Tiger Feint ever, then accidentally runs into Ebessan. Hirota lands crotch-first on Kaori’s boots trying the Bronco Buster (shoving off Tigers from attempting it), then Ebessan draws some laughs for imitating women’s wrestling (doing a hairtoss then screeching “THREEEEEE!” after pins fail, which commentary calls out as something men’s wrestlers don’t do). Aaaaaaaand now we do the pervert spots, with Ebessan grabbing a shrieking Sakura’s breasts, but she gives as good as she gets with a penile claw- both are rebuked via the ref’s “smacking slapjack” thingie. Ebessan leaps onto his own partner and the other two stomp him, then he does it to the REF and all three beat him down while the ref fakes “fear”. Another fast Ebessan/Tigers bit into a Tiger Feint, then Tigers does a backflip off Ebessan’s chest, spinkick, and a pitcher’s wind-up into a titty-slap and a “baseball slide” dropkick in the corner. Ebessan takes the Dudley Boyz-style Wazzup Drop, then Sakura’s double-arm submission. Kaori gets made when Ebessan screw sup a double-team and everyone does Bushwhacker Battering Rams into each other for a quadruple-down. Ebessan & Sakura take turns doing shots to the groin, then there’s some telegraphed comedy spots as everyone dodges everyone, and Kaori gets bumped into Sakura’s Shih! Suplex for two. Kaori dodges a German & Uraken, and yanks Sakura’s shorts to reveal granny-panties, rolling her up for the pin at (17:42).

Well that was a thing. Essentially 5 minutes of comedy, 1 fast sequence, 7 minutes of comedy, a minute of fast stuff and then slows down, 3 more minutes of comedy and Kaori basically never tagging in because I guess we’re so far outta her wheelhouse. It’s funny how the Osaka guys are so fast at chain-wrestling (to be fair it’s the same sequences Junior wrestlers ALWAYS do) and then spend minutes at a time fucking around as if to say “See? We can REALLY do this well!” even though it’s probably way easier if you don’t need to conserve cardio, haha. I do wonder how they’d do “legit” (apparently Ebessan ends up in All Japan at some point!). Match had some funny bits but was HOLY SHIT long.

Rating: DUD (sooooooo insanely long with like 2 minutes of wrestling mixed in)

CHIGUSA NAGAYO & KYOKO INOUE (GAEA & NEO) vs. DYNAMITE KANSAI & TOSHIYO YAMADA (Freelance & GAEA):
* Kyoko Inoue comes in from NEO to team with Chigusa for a Dream Match! Well, a Dream Team, mostly. Kyoko still had name value and was the top dog of NEO, while I can only assume the Kick Demons are just here to be just significant enough to do the job without it being totally one-sided. Kyoko comes down looking… disappointed? Sad? I’d swear this was Jobbing Face but I have to imagine her team is winning, lol. This is the first-ever teaming of Chigusa & Kyoko according to commentary, which is…. well, there was only a year overlap in Zenjo in 1988-89 where that could have happened, really.

Kyoko starts with Kansai as commentary talks about how much fun the Chigusa/Kyoko team has in the ring and how serious Yamada is by contrast. Kansai wins a strike battle but Chigusa attacks from behind, drawing in Yamada as things get spicy already- Chigusa sets up Kyoko’s superplex, Yamada flies into Kyoko and Chigusa into Yamada, then Kyoko plants Kansai with a missle kick and gets her lariat in the ropes. Kansai blocks Chigusa’s kneelift and Iron Claws her, Yamada sinching up an elbow smash for two. Yamada & Chigusa practice giving each other charlery horses, won by Yamada, who gets a stretch muffler- been a while since I’ve seen that. Chigusa gets a wheel kick & back kick, then Kyoko gets the Dancing Deathlock, Chigusa taking down Kansai and mirroring her. But Yamada quickly kicks Chigusa in the head and now the KICK DEMONS dance, but Yamada just does legdrops instead. Kansai scorpions Chigusa (her own move!) and keeps on the knee, Chigusa finally escaping. Yamada starts kicking Kyoko after some ugly stuff, getting her snap suplex, but Kyoko gets her slingshot backsplash on the demons. Yamada still controls as the fans die down a bit, but Kyoko Germans her off the 2nd rope, but Kansai comes in and they score Stereo Flying Headbutts for two. Kansai misses the flying stomp and gets lariated down, and Chigusa finally comes in with her TKO/Kneelift combo, then gets a flying wheel kick for two. Commentary is IMPRESSED- her weight loss means “she can do things she couldn’t do before”. Kyoko then powerbombs Chigusa ONTO Kansai- Yamada saving. They accidentally lariat one another and Kansai scores Splash Mountain… for one HELL of a two-count, Chigusa jutting her arm up at the last moment. Kyoko distracts so Chigusa scores her Spinning Elbow for two. But Kansai catches her up top and another Splash Mountain has Kyoko saving. Then Yamada hist the Diving Brain Kick and Chigusa ends up in a THIRD Splash Mountain… for three (16:48)! Well I’ll be a son of a bitch- they fooled me! I was NOT expecting the SUperteam to do the job here! So maybe that WAS Jobbing Face all along, haha.

Pretty much a “Make Fans Happy” match, not a hard-fought struggle. Lots of goofing around and “can you top this” strike wars (which are easy to do and easy on cardio), with aging athletes working slow and making every moment count. But then Yamada gets a LONG sequence with Kyoko and the fans just utterly die. Maybe it’s just to fill time and give the others a break but it goes on so long the fans just quiet way down and they can’t win them back until the very end when they start using finishers and doing last-minute kickouts and breaks.

Rating: **1/4 (the last two minutes was hot and exciting, but the rest was either Fan-Pleasing Nonsense or boring)

MONEYBALL MATCH:
D-FIX (Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU, w/ Police) vs. LAS CACHORRAS ORIENTALES (Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita):
* I reviewed this one a few years back and gave it a great rating, horrifying ShiroAbesPants on Reddit, who hates this match as a sloppy mess, lol. TO BE FAIR, this was my first “D-FIX Clusterfuck” match, and this is one of those situations where having a match be a novelty than the “same-old same-old” can lead to an elevated rating. SO I wanted to watch it again just to see. Only against Police & Ozaki can MITA AND SHIMODA come off like lovable babyfaces. D-FIX are decked out like Peg Bundy. THeir tops are a tad TOO skimpy, as Ozaki is about to figure out. The match stipulation is effectively a Ladder Match (but I guess there’s also pins, but you have to pin both), but the winning object is just this big ball full of money (5 million yen- about $50,000), and it’s only a little bit off the mat, so you could stand on a chair and get it. Shimoda humorously implies in the pre-match that Ozaki’s too short to get it.

You have to ask if everyone’s fighting before the streamers are even removed from the ring? KAORU even moonsaults Mita from the second rope to the floor, but runs in to stop Shimoda literally using Police as a stepstool to get the ball. It immediately turns into a clusterfuck of weapon shots and people running into each other. I like the ball being so low- it means everyone’s scrambling because you can actually get it QUICKLY, requiring constant interference. SHimoda & Ozaki keep using Ozaki’s stick to get at it and Mita shoves KAORU off a chair and whacks her with it, but Police Openly interferes to big heat. Ozaki is, um, having problems with her top- she’s scrambling to put herself back together after every move. Everyone takes a weapon to the ass and scrambles for the ball- Mita hilariously can put both her hands on top of it because she’s a giantess, but everyone’s so fresh that anytime someone gets close they’re deflected off-course by an enemy. Police proves integral to psychology by rushing in every time LCO get close, but Shimoda works KAORU with a chain. Mita buckle bombs & piledrives Ozaki, who fiddles with her top instead of selling most of the time. Two straight DVDs finally get the pin on her at (5:42). KAORU gets the same but Police breaks up the pin, only for LCO to pull out their trademark “Guardrail Spot”, bringing in the railing, stacking the table-piece & chair on D-FIX! They try to use the rail to balance Shimoda into getting the ball, but Police shakes her off the ropes, taking a huge bump himself when his tailbone hits the apron and he goes upside-down.

LCO bring in a ladder and stack it on D-FIX, but KAORU’s long legs just push it off and they hit the ropes. LCO eat ladder shots like nuts and D-FIX is back in the game, LCO bleeding and getting their cuts worked over. Fun bit as they pin Mita to the corner with a ladder but when Ozaki climbs up with a board Mita has her arms free and just casually flips her onto the ladder, then Shimoda hits her Ax Kick, getting two- Oz saves by tossing a ladder onto her butt. Oz grabs the ladder again, but Mita CHARGES in and jabs it into Ozaki’s ladder to bowl her over, then Shimoda climbs, only to have KAORU brain her, just crushing a board over her head, then rolling her up off the ladder for the pin at (9:01). Ozaki celebrates with her arms out and Mita just DESTROYS her with the neon pink chair, shattering the seat off on impact. Someone hilariously keeps brandishing a t-shirt at her while she sells, and LCO goes to mess with KAORU so Ozaki can FINALLY cover up. Everyone’s obviously tired now, just leaning on each other as they jab Ozaki’s cut forehead with the stick. A jagged board slices up Shimoda, and the two just start snarling and throwing punches, really selling the mess this has turned into- there’s no flow whatsoever. Moreover, they’re so tired they’re just lightly touching each other with weapons now- KAORU spinning a ladder around. Police bites Shimoda’s cut (I love how she gets pissed and tries to slug him in revenge even while she’s selling) and LCO are slammed on draped ladders. They stop a ladder climb but get strangled, but fight up and Shimoda Somersault Ax Kicks Ozaki off the ladder.

Shimoda superplexes KAORU off the ladder (… why did KAORU climb that? Just for the spot, lol), but Oz breaks it up and KAORU spends a minute setting up some stupid ladder moonsault and then FUCKING MISSES BY A MILE, completely not realizing Mita was too close for a regular one, so she hits Excalibur (michinoku driver) and Ozaki powerbombs Shimoda on Mita. D-FIX climb two ladders, but Shimoda sprays red mist in KAORU- Mita can’t DVD Ozaki but hits her stunner instead, and when Police runs in, they grab him and give him a right proper beating for all that horseshittery all match, Shimoda coming off the ladder and dropkicking him in the teeth. Mita hits a big powerbomb on Ozaki, but can’t get the DVD, again doing a stunner- Oz dodges Shimoda’s Ax Kick but just gets slapped down anyways. KAORU launches a ladder, but just clocks Ozaki with it, then eats an Ax Kick/DVD combo. They chain D-FIX together and dump them, but POLICE is back and knocks them off the ladder- Shimoda climbs again but gets a ladder to the back from a recovered KAORU, as does Mita. Shimoda climbs again and gets taken off, and KAORU hits Excalibur! That’s nearly it, as Oz bludgeons Mita to death with the chain, but when Police runs in to prevent Shimoda from interfering, she just CHUCKS him into the ladder, sending KAORU into a huge bump! Oz keeps getting shoved off the ladder, and finally Mita gets sick of Police and wraps HIM up in the chain, then holds Ozaki down with him! And KAORU gets back in and Mita pulls HER down, and Shimoda finally unlatches the Moneyball for the win at (20:36)! LCO wins! Shimoda’s bloodied face and blank thousand-yard-stare completely sell the brutality, while Mita cheers on and holds the ball up.

LCO in victory, photogenic as always.

Just a big MESS of a match and while I loved it the first time around, hot off a livewatch on the late-night BOD, it’s really obvious it’s a bunch of STUFF that happened in retrospect, especially as now I’ve seen LCO and D-FIX do sloppy brawls like this in the intervening years (watching ack then, I’d mostly gone from their peak to this match with nothing in between). It’s just a ton of scrappy fighting with zero flow at all. Mita’s selling was excellent, acting tired from the get-go and doing this great “flopping over” sell constantly, while also carrying the lion’s share of the first half of the match for her team, and then Shimoda did a fantastic “I’m bleeding to death” sell, looking dead to the world while Oz went to work on her. KAORU spending a full minute setting up that big ladder moonsault and then missing and settling for something else was pretty funny- I mean she coulda just tried AGAIN, haha. Though the fans were with them the whole way and freaking out at the near-wins, and there ended up being clever tactics- the solution to Police’s interference was to just use Mita’s raw strength to hold everyone down in a big pile with the chain, leaving Shimoda alone. Ladder matches are about movement- control momvent; control the match! Police’s constant interference paid off as he repeatedly got messed up for it, and I liked LCO being able to out-cheat D-FIX, throwing out stuff like the red mist.

Rating: ***1/2 (IN RETROSPECT it’s not ****+, but I still like it more than most sloppy garbage brawls- better selling and bumping. If it has a flaw beyond that, it’s SUPER long and never really has a “flow” beyond “Everyone doing everything they can to win”, but that’s fun in its own way sometimes)

CRUSH JR. DEBUT:
CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA vs. AYA SAKURAI:
* Aya Sakurai? WHO THE FUCK IS AYA SA– oh, Cagematch says this is her debut. So it’s an ACTUAL debut. Thank goodness, I was stumped, haha. I bet she’ll have a long, outstanding career with GAEA’s pedigree of— oh, Cagematch says she retires the next April, wrestling only like 14 matches. WELL THEN! Remind me not to get attached! So the narration is that the Crush Gals (Lioness & Chigusa) trained Aya in secret (or just Chigusa, maybe?), and it’s a total mystery what this new girl even looks like! She’s 5’7″ 125 lbs. and thus SUPER tall, especially for a promotion that mostly trained tiny girls- a beanpole with a really toned figure, in something OTHER than the GAEA Jobber Swimsuit! It’s a two-toned blue two-piece workout clothes-looking thing. There’s so much hype given here, suggesting this is also a battle between Meiko & Chikayo, since Meiko also trained Aya.

Sakurai impresses by hitting two sky-high dropkicks at the bell, then… immediately botches her first real move, as she leaps to the top rope and gets tripped up, then cross-bodies nothing as Chikayo dodges her. Chikayo is impressed as Sakurai actually takes her down and outwrestles her for a bit, then Chikayo controls for several minutes with aregular headlock- they’re going out of their way to make this look real, like amateur wrestling. It’s already clear this girl is WAY better than the average rookie, and is being portrayed as such, hitting a headscissors then bumping around as she charges into a rana then gets booted & monkey-flipped out of the corner, selling well and looking very athletic. Chikayo cranks the shit out of her neck in the ropes, but Aya gets a HUGE vertical suplex for two. She gets tossed off the top and stomped as some fans seem WAY into this, shrieking for the hotly-pushed newcomer and she struggles in a figure-four. She reverses it for a bit, then rolls back over and finally makes the ropes, but Chikayo gets cocky and charges right into a CHOKESLAM for two! Crowd is wowed by that- a rookie hitting huge moves already?

Chikayo is wise to the second attempt, but AYA is also wise to her and switches to an STO, then immediately spins her over, traps the arm and cranks on a crossface like a champ, Chikayo agonized as she finally makes the ropes, then Aya hits a giant missile dropkick and uses the momentum to hit her with a SECOND Chokeslam, this one drawing a huge reaction for the last-second kickout because it was put over so strong the first time and the crowd thinks the kid might WIN it! Chikayo is dead and can’t be lifted, which gives her time to counter to a stunner, double-boot and hit a big Flying Stomp for a nearfall. Chikayo moves to finish with her Fisherman’s Buster but Aya counters to another suplex, but Chikayo no-sells, they dropkick each other’s legs, and Chikayo smokes her with a German, releasing early to hit a bigger move- she SLAPS the rookie and goes… but Aya goes for the Chokeslam again! Only Chikayo anticipates and counters, but Aya tries to SIT OUT on her for a pin, but Chikayo trips her up and rolls over her body to immediately lock on CATTLE MUTILATION, Bryan Danielson’s double-arm bridge hold, and Aya gives up at (12:15). A bloody-lipped Aya is put over big after the match, Chikayo impressed and also shaking CHigusa’s hand.

Well this was a wild debut, lol. No nervous, tiny teenager in a monochromatic swimsuit doing running dropkicks and having her shit no-sold as she gets her ass beat, Aya was made to look like she BELONGED and was pressing Chikayo the entire way. Chikayo put her over like a champ, struggling with almost everything and having to REALLY try, making it look like she was still dominating but having to work for every bit of ground. And then the PSYCHOLOGY! Chikayo gets cocky and rushes right into a Chokeslam and it’s put over big. This and her desperate counter of the next one put it over even more, so the NEXT one draws a huge reaction for the kickout. And then Aya tries it one last time, but Chikayo catches her… but Aya catches HER, and only Chikayo’s greater experience wins as she slaps on a submission out of nowhere. Apparently Aya quits to do MMA then quickly gets married and retires- people in the comments were bemoaning how she’d be this elder respected veteran by now.

Rating: ***1/2 (absolutely outstanding debut for the kid, who had fightiness and energy already, some great technique, and a great dance partner as Chikayo was flying around for her, looking hurt, etc.)

There’s two videos on this channel- just the match, and this one with the prelude.

AAAW WORLD TITLE:
AJA KONG vs. MEIKO SATOMURA:
* And here it is, for all the marbles: the longer video. Thankfully they show the full story- one 1999 match sees Meiko get a lucky pin in a tag match. As Aja is the Champion, this leads to a title match. Meiko loses, but only BARELY- Aja dominates completely for the first 2/3, but eats a Pele Kick at that point that staggers her so badly the rest of the match ends up an uphill battle for her as she desperately tries to stay conscious and puts over Meiko TREMENDOUSLY. Aja wins but only barely, holding down Meiko with every fibre of her being to win. ****1/2 or so- one of GAEA’s best ever matches. The next year, Meiko gets another shot- this one goes far differently- Aja is not desperate anymore, but the match is treated as a 50/50 struggle that could go either way. Which itself puts over Meiko huge; now it’s not a “comeback” or a “desperation” move- just her being on Aja’s level. So IDEALLY this would lead to a third match around early 2001 where Meiko wins… except she’s not ready yet. Just kinda not as over, and they didn’t establish her as much as possible, kinda. And so they spend the next eight months or so in damage control- Aja loses the belt to Ozaki to prevent her running with the belt an excessively long time. Meanwhile, Meiko goes on a tear through the entire company- she was barely able to luckily beat Devil Masami in late 2000; now she beats Yamada, Kansai (in a pretty short match, too!) and even AKIRA HOKUTO (getting up on a double-TKO spot at “9” as Hokuto fell broken) in another amazing match, and then Aja finally gets her title back against Ozaki last month and NOW Meiko challenges her again. Meiko even beats Aja in a tag match shortly before this to establish that she CAN, while debuting a Shining Wizard-style ax kick finisher. Essentially three years of booking culminates here and they’re basically beating fans over the head with “WATCH BECAUSE THIS IS MEIKO’S CORONATION!”.

Meiko’s got new gear and a new haircut- Aja’s in white, with the “God made the Devil just for fun; but when he wanted the real thing he made AJA KONG!” theme music again!

Aja IMMEDIATELY goes for killshot after killshot with Urakens, Meiko dodging carefully and bringing Aja down via spammed kicks. Cartwheel kneedrop gets two already but Aja lariats her off the apron abnd now it’s Methodical Aja Control. A camel clutch into a painful “pull the arms back and lift her up by the spine” hold follows, and Aja works the stomach, shrugs off Meiko’s strikes and drills her with an elbow for two. Half-crab, liontamer etc. switch offense to the back, then she absorbs more strikes and is defiant, clotheslining Meiko down to prove even more dominance. Meiko finally puts her down with three European uppercuts, but only gets one. They twist each other’s ankles on the mat and Meiko throws kicks to the leg but it’s quite clear she hasn’t found an avenue that works yet. Aja easily wins a knucklelock via sheer mass, straightjackets her, then a great series of counters sees Meiko escape a suplex with a sleeper, get shoudler-thrown, have a German countered but charge into a backdrop suplex, but no-sell and boot Aja in the head, only to be tripped into the corner. Ten minutes gone and she finally takes Aja off the top and flying elbows her on the floor, but again charges into the backdrop and gets her ass kicked- Aja throws the guardrail onto her. But she gets cocky and puts Meiko on the apron, and turns around so Meiko can Ax Kick her from there and DVD her on the floor! Aja does the “so dead I can’t be picked up” sell, so Meiko just shoves a row of chairs into her, but springs to life with an oil can shot to the head and piledrives her through a table! A piece of table continues to work the brain. Meiko has a wussy cut on her head, and Aja can-shots her again and does the Brainbuster on the can again! The ref won’t count that, and Meiko comes back- Pele Kick! Then picks up Aja for a corner charge and hits another!

Meiko catches a cocky Aja with a surprise Ax Kick off the apron, setting up some big moves, but in the ring Aja wipes her out with a huge Uraken for two.

Meiko teases another but Aja’s far back and just lariats her for two, then Brainbusters her for the same. Meiko dodges the Flying Back Elbow but is too weak and gets piledriven, but manages to block the Uraken and tie Aja up for an STO, setting up another DVD for a nearfall. She tries the Shining Pele Kick that won her last match, but Aja shrugs it off and DESTROYS her with an Uraken with a deep cover getting 2.8! They’re tied now- Meiko gets a surprise German but Aja just spears her down, slaps the paste out of her and hits a Flying Back Elbow to the back of her NECK for two! Aja calls for the end… but Meiko Pele Kicks the Uraken hand, slaps HER around, then throws tons of stiff kicks to leave Aja on her knees and in trouble! DVD gets 2.9 and Aja looks dead. She hits two more DVDs for lack of a better idea as commentary has spent ages talking about the need for a new technique, obviously foreshadowing. Meiko tries for a SUPER DVD (!) but Aja desperately escapes, feints an uraken, then pops her with one and collapses, buying herself some time. Aja pulls her up and hits a real one for two. Aja puts her up top but gets shoved off, eats an ax kick from there and a flying splash, and fires up… for her Shining Kick, but Aja catches it and DVDs HER for two! Aja calls for the end, but Meiko blocks the Uraken and snaps the arm- Aja counters the DVD and quickly backhands the back of her head, then goes for a SLEEPER, which is hugely dangerous with both so weakened, but Meiko has a lot of energy left and makes the ropes. Aja keeps trying sleepers with a side-grip, allowing Meiko to DVD her… and Aja’s wobbly! On one knee! aka perfect for the SHINING AX KICK! And Meiko hits it at (26:38) and wins the AAAW World Title, the fans FINALLY having a champion from the new generation! So THAT was the move they’ve been hyping all match.

Another TREMENDOUS match between these two, who always have great chemistry. The first 10 minutes is the “usual Aja dominance”- the match is LONG so it makes sense to slowly wear down Meiko, who has trouble getting things going, yet is dangerous enough that Aja no longer acts super cocky and confident, and is ready for her counters. But then she falters and gains too much confidence and gets blasted on the floor and that’s the difference-maker. But Aja still does way more damage out there, and Meiko is fighting on the backfoot for several minutes, hitting finishers but only as counters while Aja is hitting a lot of big moves. Aja hitting the Uraken ties them up for nearfalls/finishers, but Meiko responds to her slaps in kind and hits another finisher. This leads to a good, if predictable, end stretch where it turns out that the Shining Ax Kick she debuted a month ago and has been trying most of the match WAS the big finish she’d been trying all along, explaining why she kept bouncing off of Aja’s knee. The Shining proliferation was really big in the years after Great Muta invented the Shining Wizard, and I guess Meiko was a big part of it. The funny thing is the match is GREAT yet I felt like it could have been even bigger and better- maybe it’s just because they’ve fought for so many times it’s very “expected” and not new anymore. Aja didn’t do the “sell a strike as a killshot” stuff or desperately try to avoid pins or anything, did did Meiko act dead and defiant.

Rating: ****1/4 (not their best match together, but a very solid World Title Win- this match HAD to be good and delivered)

All in all, a highly successful show with some over matches. A rookie has one of the best debuts I’ve ever seen in a very impressive match full of good counters that puts her over strongly, Chigusa suffers a big pinfall loss that somewhat rebuilds Kansai & Yamada as contenders in the promotion, D-FIX suffer another big loss in a series of them in a complete bloodbath of a match, and Meiko is FINALLY crowned 3AW Champion after years of build! Everything’s golden for the future, right?

…. Right?

(okay so Meiko’s run isn’t that long, GAEA starts giving more and more veterans and freelancers the belt by the end of 2002, we lose Akira and Aya by next spring, and LCO aren’t regulars there at all. SPOILER ALERT!)