Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan on 18.5.2002-26.5.2002

GAEA JAPAN:
(May 18th 2002)
* We’re at Hamamatsu (no idea) for what seems like a smaller taped show. This set will have a pair of small shows reviewed, mostly D-FIX intermingling with GAEA’s roster, Sugar Sato’s push continuing, and Ayako Hamada getting involved in the central angles with the top wrestlers. Also LOTS OF SAKURA HIROTA, both in Eccentric and in her cosplay.

SUGAR SATO (GAEA) vs. CARLOS AMANO (JWP):
* Sato just beat Etsuko Mitaa week before at OZ Academy, and now GAEA is likely feeding Amano to her (though Amano got a good performance in challenging Aja Kong). Sugar’s in white, Amano’s in blue.

They do some decent grappling to start, Amano being stymied by Sugar’s raised foot, then just grabbing it and hauling her down. A DDT gets two but Sugar openly chokes her with one hand, and both pose on the other in the ropes and work holds. Amano bites free as this is very house show-y so far, and Amano gets her second rope clothesline. Sugar counters the double-arm DDT and gets a Kick of Fear, dumps Amano & chases her around, then gets a missile kick for two. Amano counters a powerbomb but ends up choke-lifted into the air and Sugar hits the Oklahoma Stampede for two. Amano shoves her off the top & hits a dive, and a flying clothesline gets two. But Sugar uses her mass to counter a tiger suplex and they do a headbutt battle until Amano suckers Sugar into a lariat for two. Amano hits an impressive deadlift German for two, then a rolling elbow, but Sugar neckbreakers her to make a double-down. Amano charges in but gets hotshotted into the ropes and hit with the Kick of Fear and a Ligerbomb for two. Amano slickly counters a Running Ligerbomb into an armbar, then a jujigatame for nearfalls, but is slammed trying her shoulder-mounted armbar- Sugar tries her run-up back elbow but gets dropkicked out of midair and Tiger Suplexed for two. Sugar ducks another rolling elbow and CHARGES in with a belly-bash, missing and getting O’Connor rolled for two, and she’s nearly pinned trying another ligerbomb. Finally the two just charge off opposite sides and collide, Sugar’s belly-bash pinning a struggling Amano at (11:14).

Rating: **1/2 (a pretty good match- starts SUPER slow but has good execution and some solid bumps as they break out of “house show mode” for the last couple minutes)

DEVIL MASAMI (w/ Toshie Uematsu) vs. TOSHIYO YAMADA (w/ Dynamite Kansai):
* Oh goody- a “who has fallen the furthest from an amazing prime thanks to a broken-down body?” contest! Yamada’s still a football player.

They do slow & steady fights into lockups to start- Devil gets pissed and legdrops her, but ends up spinkicked. Devil absorbs some kicks & a backdrop suplex and fights back, dragging Yamada around by her neck on the floor, pissing off her partner Dynamite Kansai. Good “choke” selling by Yamada, making it clear she was being strangled out there. She finally recovers and heads into the ring, but Devil starts doing finger-jabs to the throat, then some more throat-basted work, cleverly intermixing totally legal, nice jabs to the chest and stuff and THEN doing the nasty illegal stuff when the ref doesn’t have a clear view. Devil keeps at the throat until Kansai hits the apron to choke her out, but Devil necksnaps her and then throws Yamada into a choke. But Yamada grinds away with the elbow to break, ends up in an open-hand choke, then turns the next sleeper into a snapmare and BLASTS Devil with a kick. Kansai now openly cheats and they do a dual football tackle to Devil! But this leads to Toshie interfering, and she sets up a Devil powerbomb, adds a flying splash, then Devil Ligerbombs Yamada for two. Devil beats her down and another Ligerbomb gets two, Devil shocked because she’d written that off. She goes up and misses a cannonball, letting Yamada hit a spear for two. Toshie flies in with a dropkick and Devil hits a big lariat for two as we’re nearing the end- Devil jabs Yamada with her fake sword and tricks her into knocking Kansai off the apron, but a last powerbomb… is turned into a rana and Yamada scores a lucky KO kick FOR THREE at (12:29). YAMADA BEATS DEVIL MASAMI!!!! That’s a HUGE shocker and years after Yamada had long since been treated like a midcard nobody in GAEA!

Actually shockingly decent considering how bad I was expecting it to be and how lightly they were working first. Devil basing a story around openly strangling Yamada and working her throat came off well, and Yamada’s selling was on point, choking and gagging like she was having trouble breathing while Devil worked the ref to get away with stuff.

Rating: *** (I was seriously thinking this was gonna be ** or less but they really worked hard on such a small show)

TOSHIE UEMATSU (w/ Devil Masami) vs. DYNAMITE KANSAI (w/ Toshiyo Yamada):

Post-match, the babyfaces don’t get any time to celebrate before Toshie attacks, throwing Kansai all over ringside and against the building’s walls. Devil holds the footballers for Toshie’s baseball slide dropkick, but Kansai tackles her to the mat- Devil cheats with a lariat and Toshie gets two with an X-Factor from rana position. She flies off onto Kansai’s feet but manages to bite free of a backdrop driver, then does a sliding kick through the ropes, swiping Kansai on the way by, and missile kicks her for two, but Kansai kicks her right in the throat for HUGE noise as Toshie gags. They fend off Devil’s cheating & Kansai flying stomps her, then a back body drop/kick to the ass double-team hurts Toshie. A double-team backdrop suplex hits, but Devil stops Splash Mountain. Kansai uses THE CLAW~~ and flings Toshie into the ring using it and a lariat gets two, then another, but Devil lariats Kansai and knocks her back into a Flying Sunset Flip for the pin (5:01)- a big fluke from Uematsu! Of course she had TONS of help with this one, but still.

Rating: **1/4 (not bad, but basically all cheating & brawling with Toshie flying around a very static Kansai)

ECCENTRIC (Chigusa Nagayo & Sakura Hirota) vs. MEIKO SATOMURA & CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA:
* Time for another long comedy tag match, this one featuring the top two Class of 1995 wrestlers as the opponents.

Sakura claps and claps to build to her stand-off against Meiko… them immediately tags Chigusa. Chigusa gets double-teamed, then Sakura, but she lures Chikayo into a running dropkick that hits Meiko. Eccentric fails double-teams, leaving Chigusa open for more double-teams, but she flings Chikayo around a bunch, including a wheelbarrow German. Sakura tries but gets hammered into the turnbuckle so hard she starts doing a “ded” twitch-sell and sells a bunch in a half-crab, but does her “Fat?” repeating deathlock. She squares off with Meiko at last, blowing her off, then taunting her by flexing a bunch, then kisses her on the lips for a nearfall, Meiko selling it with a flat-back bump of… surprise, I guess? The Eccentric Slingshot hits Meiko, then Chikayo, but Meiko hits Sakura with a slingshot stomp. Sakura evades everyone until getting caught by Chikayo and stretched out in a double-team abdominal stretch, but he kids try their own Slingshot and Chikayo eats shit on the bump. Sakura does falling headbutts, then actually poses on Chigusa when she runs in and gets bent over in a stretch- Chikayo tarantulas Chigusa, then ranas out of a Doomsday Powerbomb for two. Meiko hits her cartwheel kneedrop, but she & Chigusa end up in Sakura’s double-arm submission, everyone trades pins and Chigusa backbreakers Meiko for two, Sakura breaking it up by accident. Sakura attempts to hit Scorpio Rising (shining ax kick) herself but Meiko easily dodges and hits the Pele Kick & Scorpio Rising to Chigusa, but Sakura breaks it up. Chikayo is “dropkicked into shoving Meiko”, which ends up getting her pinned by Sakura at (12:37).

Rating: *3/4 (Yup, another long Eccentric tag with multiple “accidental turns” and partner shoving. The World Champion being pinned by Sakura Hirota is appropriately fluke-y but not the GREATEST idea, especially as the finish was mis-timed (Chikayo looked like she shoved Meiko on purpose because Chigusa’s dropkick was late)

D-FIX (Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU, w/ Police) vs. AJA KONG & AYAKO HAMADA:
* D-FIX vs. ARSION! Well the former ARSION! Aja’s in pink, Hamada’s in white & blue, and D-Fix are in the usual.

We’re JIP with a D-FIX triple-team on Hamada, Aja chasing them away with her oil can- Hamada then kips up after a double-kick and backflips off the ropes for no reason (D-Fix aren’t there yet) to “evade” them, then does a “trip then pin” on all three heels in succession, then Aja SPLATTERS them with a splash to all three. Aja misses her 2nd-rope splash and D-Fix double-team avalanche her and both hit 2nd-rope moves for two. They do some kinda slow-mo stuff with Aja, but she breaks Ozaki’s draped staff charging through it and oil cans both of them down. Backdrop driver gets two, but Hamada’s headbutts are stopped with a chain-wrapped fist. They work over a non-existant cut to Hamada, but Aja comes in and more clunky double-teams hit. These kinda messy tag matches don’t jibe well with “C-show mode”. Hamada’s enzuigiri/Ligerbomb get two on Oz but she moonsaults knees & Aja has to stop a shining kick. Oz is double-piefaced, but hits a running shotei & KAORU moonsaults Hamada for 2. KAORU no-sells a Ligerbomb and gets 2, but gets shotei’d herself for the same, and after a fight, Aja suplexes both D-FIX women. KAORU dodges multiple Urakens & gets her board shot on the backswing (a new spot she’s been abusing), and Aja takes the Brainbuster & uraken for two-counts. Ozaki gets her shoulder-mounted armbar but is put up top, but KAORU interferes and they land flying stomps, but Hamada sends Police down onto his crotch when he tries it, and Aja hits a flying back elbow for two. Hamada comes in with MOVEZ immediately- Ligerbomb & superkick, but her Spinning Ligerbomb is stopped by chained punches. KAORU gets enzuigirid but Hamada accidentally hits Aja with her Super Quebrada and she’s taken apart by all of D-FIX’s weapons- chained fists, boards & Police’s baton. A weird move sees KAORU I guess get an inverted DDT out of a suplex, but she’s spinkicked for two. Ligerbomb gets two- Oz is pushed into the ref. KAORU uses red mist and a board shot, but Oz backfists KAORU by mistake and Hamada’s fisherman’s buster gets two. Ozaki does a shining kick off KAORU’s back but the ref won’t count, but Aja Urakens Hamada by mistake and KAORU hits Excalibur for three at (14:24).

Another day, another “Clusterfuck D-FIX Brawl with KAORU endlessly spamming board shots and the same old moves. Board? More like B-O-R-E-D amiright? Hamada added almost nothing (how did one of the bigger movesets on the scene turn into “just spam Ligerbombs”?) and everyone was in a lower-end mode for this one anyways, which is kind of an ugly fit for messy brawls, as the usual intridcate spots and desperation turns to a lot of “stand around and wait for spots”.

Rating: ** (borrrrinnnnnnggggggggg)

MAY 19th:
* This is another small show- from Osaka. Only 2.5 matches.

SAKURA HIROTA vs. CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA:
* Sakura is now dressed as SPIDER-MAN, in full regalia.

Sakura tries a Spidey pose, then chases Chikayo in a rope-crawl, Chikayo proving to be a lot more athletic with hers. Sakura blows into a tube in her finger to make three noisemakers (minus the noise) on her ass extend at once, but Chikayo bites her butt-cheek. Sakura manages a judo flip into a Spidey pose, but tries the Tarantala (hee) with no Chikayo and gets dumped to the floor. Sakura hides under the ring, but comes up with WEB SPRAY~~~. A flying ass to the face gets two off that, but Chikayo grabs her chest to stop more offense, then Sakura sticks her butt in Chikayo’s face. We’re playing it classy today, I see. Sakura tries Eccentric (bronco buster) but Chikayo stomps her instead, then hits a facecrusher and her upside-down submission. Sakura tries a 619 but gets caught, punching Chikayo anyways for two. Chikayo tries a plancha but Sakura catches her with a NET, getting two. Rolling leg-clutch gets two, but the ref is caught in the net and is late on Chikayo’s Bridging German. Sakura gets her slingshot uraken but a god-awful rollup attempt just has Chikayo wisely counter- flying stomp misses but Sakura slips on her own net and is nearly pinned. Both collide heads going for the net, but Sakura is able to roll Chikayo over on a pin attempt and pins her at (7:38)- so Sakura has now pinned Meiko AND Chikayo in two days!

Rating: *1/2 (lower-end than many Sakura matches- a bit lighter on jokes and more clunky)

MEIKO SATOMURA vs. MAYUMI OZAKI: We’re JIP with a slightly bleeding Meiko being pushed over trying Scorpio Rising, but she counters a running chairshot to an F5 (!) for two. Police interferes and Ozaki hits 3 backfists in a row, but Meiko kicks out at one- Ozaki tries a shining thing but Meiko counters to DVD position, gets rolled up, but re-rolls into a jackknife bridge for three (1:36 shown)!

AYAKO HAMADA vs. KAORU (w/ Police & Ozaki):

We immediately start the next match. Hamada gets triple-teamed, but dodges a moonsault, wipes out Police with a shotei, then enzuigiris KAORU into a backdrop suplex for two. KAORU hits a huge release German, then does her miss/backswing hit board thing. D-FIX freely cheats, Police eating a superkick but Oz swinging her chain around and choking Hamada, and a triple-team wears her down. KAORU uses a brainbuster on the board, but Hamada uses an Irish whip as momentum to hit Oz & Police with a tope, and Meiko adds a plancha. Now Hamada uses the board, hitting KAORU and doing a missile kick Van Daminator with it, then Meiko assists her with a tornado DDT & a Ligerbomb gets two. Super Hama-Chan Cutter- Police saves. They destroy him with kicks, but KAORU “ducks” a double-enzuigiri (looking like she no-sells because they noticeably graze her) and she brainbusters Hamada for two. Police gets abused some more, then thrown into KAORU to stop Excalibur from winning. KAORU throws the board on his dead body but walks into Hamada’s spinkick & a folding powerbomb gets two. Bigger spinkick gets two but KAORU springs to life and hits Excalibur for the same. Ozaki tries her vaulting kick but Meiko sacrifices herself to take the hit and then a badly choreographed bit sees KAORU red mist Meiko’s shoulder, then KAORU kicks out of another spinkick at one, but walks into a Fisherman’s Michinoku Driver for the pin at (8:58). Pretty good reaction to that since the fans were dead all match! D-FIX stiff the SHIT out of Police after the match, potatoing him with slaps and kicks in frustration.

Pretty weak “MOVEZ” match, as they just tossed bombs and cheating at each other all match long, defaulting to “Police and/or Ozaki run in to cheat” in lieu of a real story/contest. Hamada’s issues selling are apparent as usual if you watch, as she doesn’t really act that pained OR annoyed by any of this, and since KAORU can usually be counted on to no-sell repeatedly, she doesn’t help much. And there were some UGLY double-teams and multi-step reversals here- stuff like people bumping into one another, getting into position too early and telegraphing things, or missing shots or hitting intended misses.

Rating: *3/4 (another pretty ugly mess with a few decent moves and a big hero finish)

MAY 26th:
* We’re back to that ugly, overly-lit building in Nagoya!

CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA (GAEA) vs. CARLOS AMANO (JWP):
* Amano gets another shot, likely on job duty again.

Quick start sees Chikayo do a Jaguar bridge-out from a pin and facecrusher Amano into a “pause for applause” spot, then a tilt-a-whirl headscissors into a monkey flip into a double-flip for the same. Chikayo bites Amano out of the DISINGENUOUS HANDSHAKE but gets her arm wrung in the ropes, then they trade holds & Amano leads Chikayo on a chase, then Chikayo does the same (oh, then be C-SHOWIN’!), ending in an ugly corner rana for two. Chikayo does a figure-four & missile kick, but runs into a lariat, but counters a wheelbarrow German to her own (faceplanting down but sliding behind). Amano scores a headbutt into a lariat against the ropes, using the momentum for a snap butterfly suplex for two. Chikayo misses the flying stomp but gets her upside-down hold in the ropes and an ugly armbar they have to re-try. Flying Stomp gets two. Amano snaps on a Fujiwara armbar for a long nearfall, but Chikayo turns a rolling elbow attempt into a rana, then another into a boot & fisherman’s buster. Amano “grabs” a kick for an anklelock, then pulls Chikayo out of the ropes for a Deadlift German for a nearfall, but Chikayo counters a Tiger Suplex AND a Rolling Elbow, windmilling around Amano repeatedly for a rollup that gets three (11:11).

Rating: **1/4 (Pretty slow to start, then harder-worked, except it was often sloppy, with someone trying a cool move but clearly slipping off and having to reapply in an odd manner, as they were putting physical effort but not concentration in? Very C-Showy overall. Also, poor Amano having to take most of the big offense and still losing)

AJA KONG & DEVIL MASAMI vs. LAS CACHORRAS ORIENTALES (Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita):
* An all-time Dream Match… if this was 7-10 years prior and not a bottom-tier show in Nagoya.

They tease doing cool stuff, but awkwardly shove each other around until Aja is pushed into Devil and then thrown into the Bitch Pose to some applause. Shimoda pulls out something new, climbing up Aja in the corner and dropkicking her in the face, then Mita hits a Blazing Chop. She clobbers Mita down for two and tags out, but Devil ends up having her powerbomb countered to an ugly stunner/missile kick combo, but the monsters hit lariats. Devil gets a big powerbomb on Mita, sorta pressing against her while standing for two- Shimoda saves with a chair. LCO drag them to the stands but get their asses BEAT, Mita flinging herself into the guardrail and Shimoda selling Aja’s chairshots. Back in, Mita fails a powerbomb but gets two stunners to bring Devil to one knee- Devil keeps no-selling, ignoring a German to headbutt Shimoda and hits her overthrow powerbomb. Aja adds a backdrop driver and kicks Shimoda’s ass out of a flying ax kick & brainbusters her for two. Shimoda dodges the Uraken, kicks the hand and neckbreaker drops Aja and a chairshot/ax kick gets two. A VERY rare DVD botch has Mita dropping Aja before completing the move- I think Aja was a notch late on the jump so Mita didn’t have the air time to get under her. Aja uses her oil can against LCO, but can’t get a DVD and Mita blazing chops her in the ass to set up an electric chair drop outta the corner. Flying Ax Kick from Shimoda hits, but Aja escapes another DVD & pops Mita with the Uraken- Shimoda saves. Devil runs in, but Mita chairs her while Shimoda green mists Aja… and the DVD/Ax Kick pins Aja at (9:07)! Was NOT expecting an Aja J.O.B. here!

Man, Devil’s no-selling was BAD in this one. She probably didn’t want to bump AT ALL, as she’s selling stunners as these “I’ll go to one knee and THAT’S IT” moves and was eagerly popping up from every little thing and not letting LCO do any cool offense on her. And then the match ends with Aja doing the entire back half. Mita was having issues DVDing her- possibly her own bad knee mixing with Aja not able to jump into it as well- you gotta get a DEEP lift if you’re hauling Aja into that move. The match was in general pretty sloppy and mostly them eager to get outta there quickly without too many huge bumps.

Rating: ** (super-sad to see from wrestlers who coulda made this ****+ back in the day, but hey- it’s a small show)

AYAKO HAMADA & MEIKO SATOMURA vs. DYNAMITE KANSAI & TOSHIYO YAMADA:
* The football duo are back, and against the new recurring top team in the company.

Kansai quickly shoulderblocks both foes to the outside, then they tease a cool thing, settling for a lame one by just shoving them back again when they hit the apron. Ayako pulls Yamada down into a deathlock, but gets slammed trying a double-wrist springboard thing to both opponents- Kansai shoulders her down by next time takes a slingshot moonsault for two. Kansai kicks Meiko around, but Ayako superkicks her in the mouth, but tries that moonsault again and gets smoked. Big lariat gets two, but the flying stomp misses and Ayako does her flying octopus stretch into a pin. Meiko sets up Ayako’s Super Quebrada to both, then the double-team tornado DDT hits. Kansai stuffs the powerbomb, so an enzuigiri lets Ayako hit it for two. But Kansai counters the fisherman’s buster to a backdrop driver for two, and Yamada wins a frenzied kickfight with Meiko, but misses a lariat and is Pele Kicked for two. Yamada eats a double-boot into a Powerbomb/Frog Splash- Kansai saving and setting up a Splash Mountain/Flying Spinkick combo that goes awry as Meiko rolls forward but is noticeably kicked anyways and everyone falls over. Meiko kicks out after a shotei and a loose DVD gets two, tries another and Kansai stops it, but rolls up Yamada for two. Yamada counters with short-range spears (more like snap takedowns) for nearfalls & Ayako saves after a Double Chokeslam. Meiko spams kicks that Yamada only kinda-blocks and is left dizzied and on one knee, so you know what happens next- Ayako runs interference so she can hit Scorpio Rising for three (10:30).

A bit more spirited than everyone else’s matches from this show, but still a bit sloppy and “big ideas, but not enough effort & tightness”. A legit win for Meiko, at least, as they beat the Yamada/Kansai team in their “football phase” after that team had scored some wins.

Rating: **1/2 (better than fine, not quite “very good”)

ECCENTRIC (Chigusa Nagayo & Sakura Hirota) vs. D-FIX (Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU, w/ Police):
* Oh god all these matches and shows in one review and we end with THIS?

They waste time after the bell rings with Sakura gifting Police with a pair of heart-shaped glasses to replace his normal shades, then KAORU is gifted a giant padded bra, Sakura shouting “SEXY!” and getting her to pose for the fans. KAORU attacks her but Sakura puts the bra back on and… motorboats it, KAORU looking grossed out, and D-FIX pounces with a 3-person pose on Sakura in the ropes. KAORU locks Sakura in Kyoko Inoue’s rocking-cradle move, swinging her into Ozaki’s boardshot repeatedly, Ozaki uses her giant wooden sword, hits Sakura in the groin with it, and Sakura hurts her knee trying to snap it. Oz wisely no-sells a hideous attempt at Chigusa backflipping Sakura onto her, then Sakura aids D-FIX in a tug-of-war over the sword, Chigusa nearly hitting her but turning around to lariat D-FIX. Assisted slingshot to D-FIX! But Chigusa is quickly triple-teamed and hit with the silly assisted avalanche (Oz literally rides KAORU’s back into the corner), and a Moonsault/2nd-Rope Cannonball gets two. They triple-team some more, Chigusa fights back, then Sakura wimps out over a plancha so D-FIX has time to counter. KAORU brainbusters Chigusa for two, but Chigusa PUNCHES her board and Fameassers her for two, but KAORU X-Factors out of a powerbomb. Sakura nearly pins KAORU after Police bumps her into landing on top, but Police is tripped into accidentally grabbing CHIGUSA’s breasts, resulting in her beating his ass and Sakura flying headbutting him in the nuts. KAORU uses red mist to Chigusa and multiple goofy rollup attempts lead to kickouts galore, but after 5-6 nearfalls, Police is bumped into Ozaki, whom Sakura leverages for the pin at (11:06).

So in three shows, Sakura Hirota pins Meiko, Chikayo and Ozaki. I wonder if THAT’s leading towards anything. Also PLEASE GOD WHEN DOES THE ECCENTRIC EXPERIMENT END? I know it’s an easy night of work for most of the wrestlers involve to stand around and react to Sakura stuff (especially Chigusa, who always seems in poor condition), but the only good Sakura is Cosplay Sakura.

Rating: *3/4 (another mess of goofy spots and dramatic silly rollups)