Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan in 01.2002

GAEA JAPAN IN JANUARY 2002:
* Now it’s time for some GAEA! There’s actually a TON of stuff set in January so I’m gonna try and put it all in one review, especially as one is a no-commentary house show-lookin’ thing. Then they go to Korakuen Hall the next day for a BIG show- it features a dramatic trios match with Chigusa Nagayo backed by Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada against a one-night reformation of OZ ACADEMY (Ozaki with her former minions Nagashima & Amano), a big singles match between new Champion Meiko Satomura and KAORU, and then a main event… the legendary Las Cachorras Orientales taking on a “Dream Team” of Aja Kong and AKIRA HOKUTO, their former mentor! And the post-match changes wrestling for good!

JAN. 13th:
* The first five matches are from a small show in Nagoya- I recognize the area with the green padded walls in the back.

HAND-MADE TITLE:
SAKURA HIROTA vs. AJA KONG:
* Of course the first time we see Aja since she lost the World Title is a goofy comedy match, lol. Sakura is now “Kagamatsu Sakura” (is that what the announcer said? No closed captioning here) and dressed like… a sprig of grass? A green onion? Apparently the things on her head are thorns. OH someone told me it’s a “kadomatsu”- a New Year’s pine decoration with some bamboo chutes thrown in! As this is the New Year, it makes sense.

The match starts with Sakura poking Aja with her “thorns”, then ties her up and shouts “Kadomatsu!”. Aja works her leg a bit and stomps on her, but Sakura pulls something from her butt and chases Aja with it until Aja just beans her with the oil can. Sakura manages to thorn-spike Aja in the gut, rub them against her face, then hit the Bronco Buster. Sakura USES THE ASS, but Aja just catches her mid-air with a German. Sakura can’t get her suplex and Aja laughs off her uraken, but Sakura lands her rollup (the thorns hurting Aja again)- both take turns theatrically Matrix-dodging each other’s strikes (Aja escaping the thorns) and Aja backdrop drivers her for two. Sakura goes for the LOW BLOW, but Aja is smart and… was wearing a cup. So she folds Sakura in half and literally sits on her, causing her to scream “GIIVVVVVVVVVE UPPPPPPPPPPPP!” and Aja wins at (6:58).

Rating: * (everyday Sakura match, but again has some unique comedy)

CARLOS AMANO (JWP) vs. AYA SAKURAI (GAEA):
* Oh yeah! GAEA debuted a rookie in December! She doesn’t last long. Here she’s being fed to Amano, still sticking around from JWP. Both are in blue.

Sakurai manages an impressive no-hands leap to the top rope almost immediately, hitting a crossbody for two. Sakurai spams dropkicks until Amano literally RUNS AWAY. Sakurai’s athleticism manages to harry her until Amano pulls her off the mat in to tombstone position, but Sakurai does the old reversal spot before getting rolled up. Sakurai avoids a rolling jujigatame attempt and ends up in a triangle choke, but counters THAT to a half-crab, impressing fans. Amano barely gets out before Sakurai starts stomping her back and hitting a backdrop suplex, and Amano can only get shit going by goading the kid into a SLUGFEST and taking advantage of her charging in with a rollup. But Sakurai manages rollup spam and a missile kick and keeps hammering away, finally hitting her Chokeslam move, but Amano starts recovering and firing back, hitting a German. But she gets cocky and flies off the top onto feet and Sakurai nearly pins her with another Chokeslam! She gets frustrated but still beats on Amano, but the veteran cleverly goads her in for another chokeslam and is prepared, countering this one to a Jujigatame. Sakurai struggles but has no escape, giving up at (8:47).

Amano did a good job making it look like she was having a lot of trouble with the kid’s athleticism, while trying not to SHOW IT so she keeps trying to blow her off despite being unable to get much going. So like, she’s this master submission wrestler and stuff, but it’s like “OH NO the kid can counter my stuff this SUCKS aarrrggghhh!” and she keeps having to reposition and figure shit out. Sakurai had tons of speed, strength and cardio and looked like a miracle rookie out there, constantly pressing Amano and having her on the backfoot. But this is really good mostly thanks to Amano, who did a freelancer’s job in making the native wrestler look like she’s a spectacular giga-rookie who can’t be taken lightly.

Rating: **1/4 (VERY good for a rookie trying her best against a superior)

CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA vs. TOSHIE UEMATSU:
* “Fighty short-haired Uematsu” shows up once more. Chikayo’s in yellow, Toshie’s in leopard-print.

Toshie quickly bites Chikayo and hits multiple facewashes in the corner- she maintains a headlock despite Chikayo backdropping out, bites the leg and repeatedly brawls and stretches out Chikayo, then switches to flagrant choking, even using a themed piece of fabric to strangle her, holding it behind her back like a 1980s heel so the ref doesn’t see. Chikayo manages her upside-down hold in the ropes after tons of hairpulling and biting, and gets revenge by stomping Toshie off the apron- great bit has Toshie WHIP a bucket at her but Chikayo snatches it out of midair and flies off the top to the floor with it, beaning her on the head in one fluid motion. Chikayo uses a chair, missile-kicks it into her head (causing a tiny cut), then vaults off it to dropkick her against the corner. She fights Toshie into a German, but sets her in the chair and gets facecrushered into it. Double-Wrist Armsault to the chair- ref won’t count. She tosses Chikayo onto the chair out of a hold and hits the regular move for two. Chikayo gets her feet up on a flying move, but Toshie catches them and hits a knee/Dragon Suplex for two. Toshie appears to knock her out with a straight punch, but spits water in her face and gets a chair so Chikayo catches it and BLASTS her- Fisherman’s Buster finishes at (11:18)- Chikayo wins despite Toshie’s tactics.

The finishing chairshot.

An interesting one! Toshie’s working out her new heelish character and is starting to fight like a 1980s heel, but Chikayo isn’t just taking it and is counter-cheating out of rage and frustration, so they end up doing 1990s chair spots as well, like “sit someone in a chair/vault off of it” like Sabu. Though it’s funny that Chikayo’s still a tier above her so she wins anyways, using Toshie’s own tactics against her.

Rating: **1/4 (another solid match, as you might expect from these two)

AJA KONG & CARLOS AMANO vs. DYNAMITE KANSAI & TOSHIYO YAMADA:
* Rai Rai Ken EXPLODES! Actually I dunno if they’re still a thing. The Kick Demon team up against Aja and a JWP wrestler, both of whom fought already.

The vets beat up on Amano, but she gets a keylock from her back on Kansai. Aja & Kansai get into a wicked chop-fight- Aja wins but runs into a boot. She escapes Yamada quickly but Amano ends up in the stretch muffler. GREAT “flop sell” by Amano as she stumbles face-first into the ropes when Kansai smashes her back. A long scorpion deathlock stays on the back, Kansai headbutts it, and Yamada adds a flying elbow & snap suplex. Amano ends up in another back-stretching hold but trips Yamada into the jujigatame and escapes so Aja works Yamada over. Aja works over Kansai but nearly takes Splash Mountain- Kansai dodges an Uraken and a lariat gets two. Aja gets one but can’t suplex Kansai, who backdrops her. Aja dominates Yamada and drops her flying back elbow, but Amano starts eating kicks for two until managing a big Jujigatame for a nearfall. Kansai saves after another one, Aja bowls her over for an “ooh!” reaction, and Kansai misses a flying stomp and barely escapes a jujigatame herself. Amano predictably runs into the backdrop driver, but escapes Splash Mountain and Aja Urakens Kansai, Amano getting two. Amano tries to finish with her “shoulder-mount whirl into a juji” but Kansai actually manages to halt her in mid-air and pulls her into Splash Mountain, pinning her at (17:20).

Felt like a pretty “by the numbers” house show tag match- they mostly dominated subordinate Amano, Aja can dominate Yamada, but Kansai & Aja are usually tied. Kansai nearly goes down and everyone treats Amano’s arm finisher as a potential match-ender (though none of them scream in pain or desperately try to escape- they just lie in it and slowly make the ropes), but ultimately she’s on the low end of the totem pole here- debuting in 1995 still puts her miles behind this 1980s squad.

Rating: **1/4 (hard-fought at points but you know it’s not great if *I* can fit 18 minutes of shit into 1 paragraph with space to spare, haha)

CHIGUSA NAGAYO & MEIKO SATOMURA vs. D-FIX (Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU, w/ Police):
* The champ and her mentor face the heel squadron of D-FIX, who are apparently around for YEARS after this I’m realizing.

Team Red cleverly pretends to walk away from pre-match handshakes and sneak in Pele Kicks, dropkick Police to the pop of the show, then throw in elbows & European uppercuts. Chigusa starts yanking hair and such, Meiko adds elbow, and Chigusa hits a kneeling jackhammer for two. KAORU has to spray red mist and use her board to take the lead, and they grind away on Chigusa and brawl into the crowd. Chigusa gets a REALLY good sunset flip but they start beating on her arm, posing on her, and hitting a rocket launcher for two. Ozaki dodges Chigusa’s wheel kick and swats her down with an uraken, too. Ligerbomb gets two, but Meiko stops Excalibur (michinoku driver) and Pele Kicks Ozaki, boots Police and beats on KAORU, who escapes a DVD and Germans her. Board shot & Brainbuster get two. Chigusa shrugs off an uraken and backbreakers Ozaki, then a running Ligerbomb gets two. Running Three (running razor’s edge)- Police & KAORU save. Double wheelbarrow German to Ozaki gets two, then KAORU gets one, but she manages a moonsault press for two. Meiko fights her into DVD position but KAORU spins out with an inverted DDT- very sloppy. KAORU kicks out of a small package but her recovery pose has her knee pointed up, so Meiko hops off it for her new finisher- Scorpio Rising (shining ax kick) gets the three at (12:20). Just a messy filler main event- nobody was trying hard, it was pretty loose and sloppy, and Meiko didn’t even do much and there wasn’t much of a story to it.

Rating: *3/4 (not actively bad but just a lazy match)

JAN. 14th:
* Back to Korakuen for this one. Dang, Google says that’s a 4-hour train ride! In one day! Man, this ring-mat is FILTHY- tons of scars and stratches, brown scuffs and miscolored parts.

HAND-MADE TITLE:
SAKURA HIROTA vs. TOSHIE UEMATSU:
* Yes, Toshie’s badass new heel person has to deal with a comedy match right away. And her dignity as a heel is promtply ruined by her clearly laughing at Sakura’s antics as a bald-headed monk doing fancy tricks with a fellow “monk”, who looks like the ref Tommy, except we already have a ref in the ring. Oh wait that’s a NEW ref- thank god- I was afraid I’d suffered “can’t recognize wrestlers by their faces” syndrome again. Sakura spins a ball on an umbrella… but the ball is clearly taped to it.

The match is Toshie easily beating on Sakura, who stuns her by grabbing the slight belly-fat around her shirt. Sakura manages the Bronco Buster, but her Flair Uppercut is countered by Toshie grabbing the fingers and spreading them apart. Funny bit as Sakura counters a whip and does like four drop-downs in a row until both are tired and Toshie steps over her and repeatedly tries stomps, but gets tripped by Sakura’s barrel roll. She builds and builds to a slingshot headbutt but falls way short. She still manages an Indian deathlock, but Toshie counters a Muta Lock by just cranking the neck herself. Toshie slaps Sakura for molesting her but gets backfisted down, and does silly head-pokes that set up her Shii-Suplex for two. Sakura counters the Dragon Suplex for two, but Toshie finally does a kneecrusher variant of an X-Factor to set up the Dragon Suplex, winning at (7:42).

Rating: *1/2 (good by Comedy Match standards- kept short and mostly Toshie beating on the goof until some trickery actually flummoxes her)

LIONESS ASUKA vs. AYA SAKURAI:
* Oh heavens. RIP rookie. Asuka, now main star of ARSION, returns to GAEA to beat on “The Next Big Thing”.

We’re JIP to Asuka battering Sakurai around, and she throws her into the Giant Swing- Sakurai bridges out at 2 but is too weak to get up until she throws out Dropkick Spam. Commentary actually namedrops JACKIE SATO, saying “I’ve never seen a wrestler of that height throw a dropkick before” until mentioning the former Ace of the promotion from the late 1970s. Sakurai dodges a baseball slide and tries for a suplex on the floor, immediately giving up and rolling Asuka back in for another missile dropkick, haha… and follows with that vertical suplex, causing a huge markout from the commentator! Okay it’s just a regular vertical suplex bud- don’t gotta lose it. Sakurai keeps trying her Chokeslam, but Asuka’s way too senior to be falling to that, so she keeps elbowing free and just greets the kid’s charge with a boot to the face. A big delayed vertical suplex- “Fuck YOU!” bridge! And Lioness, eager to teach a lesson, clotheslines her into the grey table and then Flying Stomps in, crushing her. Asuka refuses the pin, though, shouting “Get up!”. “This is also a parent’s love” sez commentary in the most “Puro Morality” statement ever, as Sakurai struggles to her feet, collapses into Asuka’s arms, and Asuka pats her on the back before murdering her with a Ligerbomb at (5:32). Parental love wins! See, they hug after the match? Sakurai APPRECIATES being slaughtered with a real finisher!

Rating: *1/2 (another fun one- total destruction from Asuka, who is way too far up the ranks to be selling “nearfalls” to the kid)

CHIGUSA NAGAYO, DYNAMITE KANSAI & TOSHIYO YAMADA vs. MAYUMI OZAKI, CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA & CARLOS AMANO (w/ Police):
* !!!! It’s OZ ACADEMY! A one-off sees Ozaki and her old subordinates a team once more, taking on a veteran squad of Chigusa and the Kick Demons.

We’re JIP with Kansai holding Ozaki in a scorpion deathlock, then Chigusa does one to Amano, then Yamada hits a Boston crab to Chikayo while commentary laughs about her not knowing how to do the other hold. Kansai flattens Oz in a strike war, then Yamada defeats an OZ triple-team and BRINGS BACK THE SWINGING STRETCH MUFFLER!!! It’s been so long! Thank god there’s finally someone small enough against her! But Team Oz run in for a triple-submission but flee the scary vets in a funny bit, but Chikayo manages Tajiri’s Tarantula, then uses speed and flying stomps Yamada for two. Chigusa sets up a belly-to-belly superduperplex for two from Yamada, but Chikayo hits a slingshot rana to Chigusa, then a great windmill headscissors AND a wheelbarrow bulldog, whipping out the Rey Mysterio offense against a big enough opponent to let her do it. Ozaki flying stomp sets up Amano’s flying lariat for two, but Chigusa blasts her with the backdrop-to-backbreaker that looks vicious, then gets a powerbomb and a Double Spike Piledriver- Chikayo saves.

A double-assisted Tarantula to tear Yamada up.

Standing jackhammer- Amano kicks out, then escapes Splash Mountain in this match and hits the Jujigatame, Ozaki cannonballing the arm and adding her armbar. But Ozaki tries Amano’s finisher and gets clotheslined out and now SHE’S triple-teamed, and a Backdrop Driver gets a dramatic two as Chikayo was circling the ring trying to get around and break the whole time. Flying Stomp from Kansai gets two, but she tries Splash Mountain and gets sandwhiched between Class of 1995 Missile Kicks. Ozaki spams urakens for two, Kansai drivers her again, then Ozaki gets a Manami Roll and dodges so Chigusa roundhouse kicks Kansai by mistake, but Kansai still rolls a charging Ozaki into Splash Mountain- the kids break it up! A bizarre finish sees her hit it AGAIN, Ozaki kicks out at 2 and roars to life, but Kansai just elbows her to death and hits it a third time in a row for the pin at (11:51).

Damn, now THIS one was wild. One of those rare “pull out all the stops” GAEA matches with everyone fighting as hard as possible. Another job from Ozaki so close to her prominent ones from last year, plus a good showing from Kansai in particular. Lots of dramatic nearfalls based around Chikayo & Carlos always being in position to break until finally they were weighed down and prevented.

Rating: ***1/4 (one of the unpredictable good matches that OCCASIONALLY make GAEA fun to watch)

MEIKO SATOMURA vs. KAORU (w/ Police & Mayumi Ozaki):
* The new Champ faces KAORU in a singles match.

We’re JIP with KAORU using board shots, but Momoe takes it from her and hits the super jujigatame, only for OZAKI to fly in with a footstomp to break it up. Brainbuster on the board gets two and KAORU starts playing Hidden Foreign Object (a key) until Meiko kicks it out of her hand. Meiko wins a superplex fight with a big front superplex, but splashes onto feet and KAORU completely shatters the board over her head in a great sell from Meiko, who flops into the ropes and hits the floor. KAORU follows with a massive flying senton through a table to a bleeding Meiko out there. To taunt a fading Meiko, KAORU actually takes one knee and taunts her to do the Shining Ax Kick, and the seconds keep adding shots. KAORU mostly misses a moonsault but gets her foot caught being so arrogant and Oz has to save, but Meiko escapes Excalibur and takes boxing stance to knock KAORU flat with palm strikes, then Germans her. Police accidentally lariats KAORU but she manages to spray red mist into Meiko’s eyes and Excalibur gets two. KAORU gets cocky again and is DVD’d, bridges out but eats kicks and the Ax Kick misses, so Meiko segues right into the Pele Kick- D-FIX saves! They’re pulled to the floor by GAEA loyalists and a DVD gets two for Meiko. She starts working the knee to FORCE KAORU into “Shining” position in a clever bit, but KAORU ducks down too much and then when Meiko FINALLY gets the leap, OZAKI flies in with a spear in mid-air. Oh, SLICK. And Meiko beats on her only to turn right into a KAORU punch… for three (9:19 of 20:34 shown). Oh come on with that shit, haha. KAORU stuffs the key into her top on the close-up to establish the sheer cheating of it, then makes sure to slip it to Devil Masami on the floor, then is like “SEE, TOMMY? LOOK DOWN MY TOP? DO YOU SEE THAT WEAPON HIDDEN IN MY BOOBS, TOMMY!” to the annoyed ref, shoving her face in her top.

A hard-fought one, mostly telling the story of “KAORU gets cocky and gets caught, but is saved by D-FIX”. And then the build and build her new finisher, which is a GREAT way to establish that- it’s a brand-new move so they need to emphasize both its capability AND the fact that nobody wants to eat it, so you see slip-ups, heel interference and more saving KAORU from it so the fans REALLY want to see it happen. Of course that works best if you actually give the fans what they want in the end, not pull another “lol KAORU wins bcuz cheating” story, which is getting REALLY OLD, buuuuuuuuut I guess they need to establish future challengers for the new champion and it is an unfair win (she had KAORU beat 2-3 times). But pinning your champion a month after her big win is EHHHHHHHH.

Rating: *** (another hard-fought, fun match- turns out the secret to good KAORU matches is to include a great worker and better workers on the floor to do most of the match’s stuff)

The crowd’s “… YUP.” expressions when KAORU wins say it all.

AJA KONG & AKIRA HOKUTO vs. LAS CACHORRAS ORIENTALES (Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda):
* OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!! I keep waiting for “The Last Good Hokuto Match” as I know she retires shortly after this, and I ALSO keep waiting for the “Last Great LCO Match” as they’ve started to do tons of jobs and split up eventually… and look at THIS! LCO in a big GAEA main event… against the woman who started their stable! Pretty much everything they are is because Hokuto was hugely over and needed minions for multi-woman matches- their Spanish stable name comes from her time in Mexico. And Aja’s an old LCO nemesis as well.

OH MY GOD THOSE ABSOLUTE *CURS*- this is Joined in Progress with Aja already bleeding! How dare they?! She lariats Shimoda and Hokuto adds her spinkick & scorpion deathlock, grinding away with her fingers and switchting to an STF Shimoda calls out as a choke. Each try to escape using RINGS-style counters (biting the wrists and open strangling with one hand, each doing so simultaneously). Hoktuo adds the hangman’s choke in the corner and Aja headbutts, her face a full crimson mask. Piledriver gets two and she keeps throwing kicks, but Shimoda scores her hooking lariat, only to get booted trying her Flying Ax Kick. LCO double-teams Aja, who calls in a Hokuto airstrike, then she follows with the Rocket Launcher to the floor. LCO get beaten up in the stands, Hokuto doing an octopus stretch on an elevated platform while Shimoda literally runs and hides behind a counter to avoid Aja’s beating her with the metal barricade.

Shimoda literally hiding from the wrath of Aja Kong.

Aja babies as hot into her but then rolls BACKWARDS down the Korakuen stairs from a shove. Mita also whips Hokuto into chairs, and back in Shimoda settles for a German suplex after her Tiger fails, then they try their electric chair/splash move but Hokuto charges in and superplexes Shimoda and Aja Brainbusters her for two! Hokuto with her short piledriver- Mita saves; Dangerous Queen Bomb- Mita saves again. Aja beats on her for that, but when Hokuto lands her vicious Inverted Head-Drop Suplex, Mita charges in for another save!

Part of what makes LCO so amazing is they SELL like heels. Selling pain too much can make the crowd sympathetic, so the trick with heels is to be REALLY whiny with it, or make grotesque faces instead of dignified expressions- Shimoda in particular is a master of “aggravating scumbag getting their just desserts” selling and expressions.

Hokuto, sick of Mita’s shit, comes over to beat her ass, but this lets Shimoda recover with a Tiger Suplex for two. Mita finally tags in 8 minutes into the video, hitting a big Folding Powerbomb for two. Mita aims for the Blazing Chop but Hokuto kicks her arm out and Mita immediately feeds her Stranglehold Gamma, desperately rolling out of it- Hokuto gets on a sloppy version and Mita struggles to the ropes, then pops up with a stunner to mess up Hokuto’s face as commentary is on about how this will determine Mita’s future as a wrestler- whether she can “surpass Hokuto’s spirit”. Death Valley Driver! Aja supermans in for the save. Hokuto, still holding her mouth in pain, manages to just blast Mita with a slap, then lures in Shimoda to chairshot Mita by mistake and Germans her away, setting up Aja braining both with her oil can. She sets one up to *DVD* Mita on it, but Mita escapes, only to get drop-toeholded onto it. Great tease spot there. Flying back elbow from Aja while Hokuto blocks- only two. Shimoda readies the colorful chairs and they just start flinging them to stop any offense, but Shimoda tries to missile kick a seated Aja and gets swatted with it. Mita’s blasted with a chair but Aja tries to superplex Hokuto on her and misses- Mita tries to capitalize but takes the Uraken for two- Shimoda saves. Aja tries a DVD but Mita escapes and Shimoda’s ax kick sets up HER Driver- Hokuto saves. Hokuto stop sthe Flying Ax/DVD combo, but Shimoda still gets her half off, but Aja strikes with LA MAJISTRAL of all things, catching Mita unawares and sloppily rolling the wrong way but just splaying out on her for the surprise leverage pin at (13:59 of 18:24 shown). LCO slap around and spit on Aja after the bell and Akira grabs the mic…

This is a rare match that is both rad but kind of disappointing, but only because I’m expecting a ****1/2 masterpiece when I see these names but we miss part of it and the final surge is MOSTLY just LCO getting overwhelmed, even with Aja’s bleeding, and Shimoda controlling most of what we saw until the final stretch. Then that weak finish- kind of botched AND a weird rollup finish in such a big bout.

Rating: ***1/2 (dramatic and a good fight with some good dramatic desperate last-minute flying saves, yet it feels like we’re missing 3-4 minutes that make it a ****+ wonder)

I knew something was up when the last two videos on this day were short. Akira Hokuto gets on the mic and announces SHE’S RETIRING! It’s the start of her 17th year as a professional and she’s gonna step away come April, so has only a few matches left. So she walks over to her old team and decides to join up with them, challenging any three other wrestlers- Aja bolts towards her and the whole GAEA locker room pulls them apart, but then Akira calls out the Crush Gals AND D-FIX, and it seems like everyone in GAEA wants a piece of them on Feb. 2nd. And the Gals come out with Crush Junior, Aya Sakurai to give her the rub that will totally make her a megastar forever. *checks notes* wait. Goddammit.

A final interview in the back with wet-faced LCO teammates beside her, Hokuto sort of just gives a casual explanation for everything. She wants her last matches to be fun and interesting. Why is she retiring? A lot of reasons, but she notes the death of her “dearest friend”, who left behind a child Hokuto’s own age, and how she must of had regrets. Hokuto mentions that she’s 30 years old, and is having difficulty holding her own child as he gets big (Kennosuke, who would be around 4 here), and stuff like that. “When I’m in the ring, I might be a bad mother” as she replaces thoughts of her husband and child with the faces of her partner or opponent, and she’s starting to lose that focus so it’s best to retire.