Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan in 06.2002 (Here Comes a New Challenger!)

GAEA JAPAN IN JUNE-JULY 2002:
* It’s more GAEA as they just got through their big two-show day in the beginning of the month, so let’s see what the rest of it looked like. I was planning on this being just the five matches, but since the next show was only 3 and a short vid after, I figured I could add it in despite being short on time due to Canadian Thanksgiving… and I’m glad I did, because THAT’s the one with the huge bomb that changes GAEA forever!

JUNE 29th:
* This is from that old-looking, REALLY tall hall with very little room for fans. Looks to be maybe 100-150 people there? Three rows deep on 3 sides of the ring and some short balconies on the other side.

CHIGUSA NAGAYO vs. SAKURA HIROTA:
* Eccentric EXPLODES! Sakura just got beaten down in a bloodbath that saw D-FIX retain their Tag Titles, but this is just more comedy between Sakura and her “subordinate”, Chigusa. Sakura cuts a long, impassioned promo, ending in the usual “You are not EYE!”, and is incensed that only Chigusa gets streamers for the intros. Chigusa cracks up at whatever Sakura says during the pre-match handshake.

Sakura howls in pain during a double-knucklelock as Chigusa keeps corpsing, and Chigusa appears to humor Sakura’s attempts at using TELEKINESIS to throw her around, but ends up in a lot of flash-pins, only to leverage onto Sakura for one and get yelled at for it. Sakura trips Chigusa during a chase and does her double-arm submission, but gets dumped on her ass. She doles out the YELLOW CARD when Chigusa kicks her in the ass, then does a Stinkface but immediately gets rolled up. A figure-four is repeatedly reversed as they do more comedy spots like Chigusa pinching Sakura’s nose, but getting her belt undone, and when they’re loose Sakura slaps her on the belly. Chigusa way oversells this and Sakura takes off her belt and whips her, the ref, and people at ringside, then takes off her OWN belt and starts dual-wielding them until Chigusa just short-clotheslines her. Chigusa hits a big backdrop driver to counter the uraken, getting two, then backbreakers Sakura, who starts to do the Spinaroonie- Chigusa kicks her, but the Running Three is countered to a sunset flip, Sakura pulling her shorts down so Chigusa desperately sits on her for the pin at (9:54). Well this was very “Sakura amuses a small amount of fans during a low-effort house show performance”.

Rating: * (“Comedy Sakura” is generally only fun when it’s cosplay, but there’s some mildly amusing bits here)

AJA KONG vs. TOSHIYO YAMADA:
* At the last show, Aja called out all the tournament losers, and took special relish in murdering Yamada, hitting her with a ton of finishers and pinning her in two separate matches. This is a house show rematch. Aja’s in purple & black, Yamada’s in white & black.

Aja rushes Yamada before the bell and pops her with a weak Uraken, but Yamada won’t even lie down for the count and they roll to the floor in a brawl. They scrap all over the place and toss plastic chairs at one another, both ending up sliding into groups of them until Aja gets an arrogant cover off of some corner clotheslines. Aja’s elbow has some nasty bleeding, probably from those tossed chairs, as she slowly tries to pry apart Yamada’s guard and work her over. Aja grinds her down and even brings back the old “see-saw them into the ropes and onto her knees” spot- Yamada takes a breather outside and comes back with four kicks to the head that stuns Aja, but she rapidly recovers and beats ass again. Body attack & half-crab as Aja does the usual but even on house shows looks like she’s putting her full weight into everything. This goes on a bit long as they just hold the other’s leg for a while until Aja scores a piledriver & Yamada a lariat. Yamada manages to kick Aja’s head and wisely uses that to take another breather, then wins a striking match with an enzuigir for two. Aja catches the next kick with a backdrop suplex and then brainbusters her for two, but overdoes it and goes for a 2nd-rope splash. Landing on feet, she tries to no-sell Yamada’s kicks but takes one to the forehead to tease a KO. Yamada hauls her up but overdoes it on the lariats and takes the Uraken! She’s dazed, but gets put up top and does the sunset flip powerbomb counter, Aja immediately kicking out but taking the spinkick counter for a much closer call. Yamada goes for the Reverse Gory Bomb of all things and of course immediately gets Urakened, but kicks out so Aja mashes her twice with the oil can and Urakens her… and pulls her up at “2” in a show of dominance and puts her up top for the Avalanche Waterwheel Drop at (14:13). First time I’ve seen that move in AGES.

Leave it to Aja to make a “pointless midcard match in front of a small audience” somewhat interesting- not quite teasing big KOs or nearfalls against someone now far beneath her but giving her opportunities here and there to look good while Inevitable Aja breaks her down slowly. There’s still the crowd brawl and the resthold portion that are longer than they’d be at Korakuen and the ending was always inevitable, but they fought well for 14 minutes and filled time pretty good.

Rating: **1/2 (very good for the location)

JUNE 30th:
* This is a tiny show from Zepp Sendai, which looks more like a puny studio, with fans up on mini-balconies in 3-4 rows on each side of the ring, making things far more intimate, especially as it’s very dark in here.

SAKURA HIROTA vs. TOSHIE UEMATSU:
* It’s Cosplay Sakura again! And now she’s cosplaying UEMATSU! With her pink hair now decked out in the big spikes. Except it looks like she laid down at some point because the whole back part is flat.

They start slow, attempting to poke each other with hair-spikes, then do a rope-running mirror sequence where they try to trip each other up or copycat, then Sakura stalls for ages while adding more water to her hair spikes. Toshie chokes Sakura out in the ropes, but Sakura gets caught up trying the same thing, falling upside-down. Toshie threatens to spew water, but Sakura halts her with a stern word, points her at the ref, then just turns her there and pats her on the back of the head. Sakura tries the same thing and they ALMOST mimic it, but she corrects herself and sprays Toshie, then chases both of them around with more water. Toshie finally throat-jabs her to make Sakura swallow it, but Sakura gulps the last of it and chases AGAIN, this time countering by leaning back and spraying upwards into Toshie’s face. Finally doing a match again, Sakura misses urakens and gets Goo Punched and her knees dropkicked out. Toshie, angry over her hair being messed up, punishes Sakura but misses the Goo Punch and ends up in that double-arm submission. Sakura uses the bronco buster but ends up in the tree of woe, doing another comedy routine as she keeps sitting up to avoid kicks, but Toshie finally beats her ass and another Goo Punch gets two. Slide-kick in the ropes and missile kick gets two. Sakura counters the Dragon Suplex for two, but lands on her feet from the Double-Wrist Armsault and poses, but Toshie leverages onto her out of the same move and punches the crap out of her. Sakura misses a slingshot uraken and a sunset flip from the 2nd rope gets two for Toshie, then Sakura misses an uraken but NAILS her with a Goo Punch of her own for a nearfall, but gets too cute trying flash-pins after backing into a full nelson, and ends up pinned by Toshie at (9:53).

Toshie selling the water harder than maybe any move she’s ever taken.

Vaguely amusing and has some unique comedy bits, but this kind of brings to mind how poorly Toshie Uematsu has attempted to stand out from the crowd- Sakura was doing a Wacky Cosplay Match but didn’t really have ANYTHING TO WORK WITH here- Toshie’s just kind of a generic unpleasant goon. She has 3 distinct moves and one pre-match pose and otherwise she had to mock her hair, which is a new aspect to the character. A seven-year veteran and that’s all Sakura could find.

Rating: *1/2 (a pretty boring one- too long and barely-wrestled)

CHIGUSA NAGAYO & AYAKO HAMADA vs. CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA & CARLOS AMANO:
* A pretty interesting mix of people here! The boss & the top freelancer teaming up against the new Champion and the resident pin-eater.

Ayako gets double-teamed immediately, briefly getting a double-flip on them lucha-style, but ends up in a submission as they pose on her. This infuriates Ayako, who wins a kickfight but gets bitten by Chikayo- they struggle in holds until Chigusa punishes her ex-student with knife-edge chops & a snap suplex. Chikayo finally snags a leg and brings in Amano- she & Chigusa do an interesting struggle for position and limbwork- you only really see that in Amano matches anymore. Chigusa manages a headscissors pressure move but Amano works the arm and holds her still for Chikayo to add a stomp & X-Factor, and they double-team further and cheer themselves on. Chigusa finally limps away and Ayako ALSO gets double-teamed, but manages a Lionsault to put both down, but they grab her again and then counter Chigusa/Ayako with their shoulder-mounted arm submissions (a move used by both). Chikayo won’t release the hold on Ayako in the ropes, and an angry Ayako snags her with a powerbomb out of a charge. Chikayo kinda botches a couple things on Chigusa (finally managing a German from Amano’s missile kick interference), but bulldogs Chigusa out of a backdrop- she can’t get her Fisherman’s Buster, and Chigusa suplexes both her & Amano when the latter comes in to help.

Chigusa manages her backdrop, then catches Chikayo’s tilt-a-whirl with ANOTHER one. Chikayo manages to counter a powerbomb to an STF. Amano adds a flying lariat for two and works the leg, but gets caught with a European uppercut & Chikayo leaps in to stop it. Ayako powerbombs her onto Amano for that, and the team is hit with stereo powerbombs. Another powerbomb onto Amano gets two but Amano fires off the Rolling Elbow to escape a Running Three, but Ayako cheats to set up Chigusa’s Fameasser. Ayako flies in, but gets armsnapped on the apron by Chikayo and Amano immediately hits a rolling jujigatame to capitalize. Ayako immediately counters the next thing to an octopus stretch and wins a striking match with an enzuigiri and a Powerbomb/Moonsault double-team gets two. Ayako’s fisherman’s move is countered to a tiger suplex, countered to a flash-pin for two, and Amano runs into a powerbomb, but gets pulled away so Ayako’s Lionsault misses. Ayako’s quebrada misses and pulls down Chigusa, but she trips both opponents and flies onto them, but Chikayo kicks her into a Bridging German for two. Chigusa interferes after another but she & Ayako wheel kick each other by accident & Amano hits a Rolling Elbow & Tiger Suplex… for two! Amano tries her shoulder-mounted armbar again but Chigusa PRESS-SLAMS Chikayo into her and Ayako hits a Fisherman’s Buster- Chikayo saves. Chigusa ensures Ayako is left along, and she kicks Amano in the head and finishes her with a Fisherman’s Falcon Arrow at (19:26).

Very scrappy and without much flow, but some interesting bits. Chikayo immediately working heel against Chigusa comes out of nowhere, and her & Amano work well as cheaters. Amano’s submission game is very good as always, and it’s fun watching her fight Chigusa that way, as it’s a way GAEA doesn’t normally go but Chigusa is very good at it regardless. But there were a lot of awkward bits and people just sorta bumping into each other (at one point Chikayo does a big corner dodge but just runs backwards and bumps into Chigusa, then they fall into the corner on a German attempt and have to reposition) and there’s a lot of “someone tags out and they kinda mess about to re-capture the flow” bits. The entire last part of the match was Amano, too, like they were saving Chikayo. And yeah, YET AGAIN Amano gets to do all this cool, good-looking offense and then lose in the end. Looking into the future, she becomes mostly full-time in GAEA by 2003 and sticks around for a couple years, but never really gets outta that “loses in the end” zone.

Rating: **1/2 (fought their way into a pretty good match by the end)

Always funny when I catch random dudes watching alone in the upper area somewhere. Unless his white clothes just caught the light and nobody else’s did. What IS he doing up there?

AJA KONG & DEVIL MASAMI vs. DYNAMITE KANSAI & SUGAR SATO:
* Some big rivalries from the ’90s as Kansai faces off two of her worst rivals while teaming with Sato. Both were again victims of Aja’s tirade at the last big GAEA show, so have something to prove.

Sugar starts hot with Aja, but gets bowled over trying her belly-bash, and Aja pummels her with stiff chops until Sugar just boots her down and tags in Kansai, who ends up fighting both, failing to knock them down with a double-lariat and getting chopped down. Kansai clubs down Devil, but the oil can to the head sets her up for a superplex. Sugar missile kicks in to save and spams running boots, but can’t get a powerbomb & uses a neckbreaker instead. She ends up getting caught, but dodges Devil’s cannonball and persistently beats her down again, ending with a big lariat. Aja interferes to set up a Ligerbomb for two. Aja senses weakness and now methodically throws kicks and does a delayed brainbuster for two, pulling her up. This angers Kansai, but Aja moves and Sugar accidentally nails her partner and takes the Backdrop Driver, but roars to life only to get stomped down again, but manages her dragon screw. But her Flying Back Elbow misses, but Kansai holds up Aja so Sugar can hit a Running Ligerbomb (!) for two. Kansai adds the Flying Stomp for two, then rocket launches Sugar onto Aja and fires off kicks for two. Aja & Kansai clobber each other in a mirror match, allowing Devil to swing in with a lariat to Kansai, but Sugar bashes her, then dodges AJA’s lariat so Devil takes it and flattens Aja with another bash! Good sequence there- the fans like it! And a double-team lift allows for… Kansai’s SPLASH MOUNTAIN to Aja! Devil saves! And everyone bumps around and that lets Aja get an opening- she bashes Kansai with the oil can and hits a LOUD Uraken… for three (8:56)! Aja steals one! This brings in a bloody-foreheaded Yamada, who is PISSED at Aja for this! But her impassioned promo must suck, cuz one of the translated comments on YouTube is “Listening to Yamada on the mic, it’s easy to see why his matches are so boring”. OUCH.

So it becomes clear that a new angle of GAEA is “Elevate Sugar Sato”, as they’ve been treating her like a powerhouse since her return, and are now establishing that she can reliably and regularly knock down Devil & Aja-types in battles. This is kind of a big thing, because usually her generation is tiny and treated like only a dozen shots can do that, but Sugar can just land one counter and do it. It’s not ENTIRELY believable but they likely realize that as the #3 of 4 remaining Class of 1995 girls, they kind of HAVE to elevate her or else confess that this just isn’t a place where that happens. The match itself was pretty solid at doing that, and it was helped by being so short. Sugar was allowed to knock the big opponents around, often catching them with stuff, and looked strong by dodging them and hitting her own moves. Best of all, Kansai did the job, tainted as it was.

Rating: **1/4 (pretty basic but fine)

A new building in my watchthrough, I think.

JULY 7th:
* This is an interesting-looking building in Osaka. Like one end of a LONG auditorium with large trusses going into the background and a skylight above them.

MEIKO SATOMURA & AYAKO HAMADA vs. D-FIX (Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU, w/ Police):
* We’re JIP with this one, the top heels against the top native and top freelancer other than Aja. Meiko has new gear- a shiny red shirt and golden trunks.

We start with Ozaki spamming running shots, but gets her head sandwiched with kicks- Meiko hits a Northern Lights suplex, broken up by KAORU, but misses the cartwheel kneedrop. Ayako comes in with a lariat & wheelbarrow front-slam for two. Ozaki uses her chain and an uraken for two. KAORU misses a moonsault and they try her “they counter a rana to a powerbomb” spot, but she has to help with the lift by handstanding off the mat and is Ligerbombed for two. Ayako moonsaults onto knees, but a double-team sees Meiko & Ayako hit stereo flying moves for two! Ayako’s assisted tornado DDT hits KAORU & another Ligerbomb gets two, then Meiko psyches her out with a feint and European uppercuts her, then does a Riverdance jig with knees to the head to taunt her. Oz sets up an inverted DDT & KAORU blocks a Pele kick for two- Ayako saving- and KAORU takes a bad bump off a Pele Kick (making it look like a grazing blow) and just spinebusters Meiko out of a charge. I don’t know if I’ve EVER seen that in joshi puro. Ozaki mocks Meiko’s Riverdance knees but has a scrappy/sloppy sequence with her (lots of failed “jumps” into moves) and KAORU swings her board to stop a running DVD. Ligerbomb/Neckbreaker (the Villanobreaker!) gets two. Ayako saves Meiko from a Shining Wizard and stereo DVD/Ligerbomb gets two! Ozaki ducks a Doomsday Device and gets the Wizard after KAORU sprays blue mist into Meiko, Ayako saving, and Meiko catches Ozaki running in with a TKO. Oz scores a quick uraken for two, but Ayako kicks her in the head and Meiko shoves her into KAORU’s board shot… but KAORU just smashes Meiko with it, only for Meiko to catch Oz doing the Wizard off KAORU and DVDs her- Police breaks it up! Each tries flash pins, but ultimately Meiko lands Scorpio Rising (shining ax kick) for the surprise pin (10:07 shown) over the Tag Champions!

A very scrappy, but kinda fun, match, as it’s the usual sloppy “D-FIX just does whatever” battle, but the last 5 minutes is almost non-stop attempts to win with various nearfalls, stopped only by there being so many people charging in to stop them. Actually a shocking amount of them that really kept the fans guessing, too. Interestingly, while Ayako often dominates whole matches with her spammed stuff, the “important bouts” usually just have her as the extra, as Meiko was in for the whole last part.

Rating: **1/2 (I liked it in spite of the sloppy stuff- very energetic and all-out effort)

ECCENTRIC (Sakura Hirota & Chigusa Nagayo) vs. CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA & SUGAR SATO:
* The Chikayo/Sugar team returns, Chikayo actually holding the World Title, which I never see in non-title matches.

We’re JIP with Sugar doing an electric chair lift and dropping Sakura down into Chikayo’s X-Factor, then Sakura locks arms with Chikayo for the double-ass-bump into rolling sideways for a double pin, then a long rope-running/tripping sequence into a Pause For Applause. Chigusa runs around Sugar to “dizzy” her, but whips her off the ropes and gets belly-bashed down! Chigusa can’t knock her down with a lariat and they both bump off a charge. Chigusa fights her way out of a double-team & backdrop drivers Sugar, but Sakura gets bashed over and ends up doing silly poses, preventing her from saving Chigusa from Sugar’s Running Ligerbomb. Rocket Launcher gets two, and Chikayo does a dropkick off Chigusa’s knees into her headscissors- Sakura gets a blind tag so when Chikayo ranas out of Chigusa’s powerbomb she gets rolled up for two, and Eccentric try stereo bronco busters- Chikayo dodges Sakura’s and dropkicks Chigusa out of hers. Sugar slingshots Chikayo into Eccentric’s silly double-team, but Sakura dodges and almost gets several pins, but wastes time doing a Spinaroonie and gets missile kicked by Sugar. Sugar easily beats up Sakura until Chigusa interferes, but Eccentric’s slingshot move is blocked, Sugar pushes Sakura back until her back hits Chigusa’s knees, and on the way back over Sugar just inside cradles her for three (7:37 shown).

Rating: ** (a pretty typical “goofy Eccentric match” with “house show effort” except Chikayo/Sugar were shown to be way beyond them, often countering expected offense and even stopping CHIGUSA when she got involved)

AJA KONG vs. DYNAMITE KANSAI:
* A former big-time Interpromotional main event series is now JIP. Kansai’s at least not dressed like a football player anymore and is in a white/green/gold flashy bodysuit. Aja’s in navy blue.

Aja uses the oil can as we start, and Kansai shockingly doesn’t drop from an Uraken and now even AJA KONG uses a Shining Wizard, getting two. But Kansai sells a wide-eyed KO and has to be counted down, but awakens at “9” and Aja immediately charges and puts her up top- but Kansai slips out and hits Splash Mountain for two! They kick each other for a double-down, are up at “8”, and a double-lariat sees Aja turn it into an Uraken, but only for two. Aja, incensed, PULLS OFF THE GLOVES and shakes the ropes, getting agitated- Kansai blocks the deadly Uraken and lariats her, but Aja uses the momentum to bounce off and land the Uraken, getting a high stack on the pin at (3:58 shown). Solid showing, but the fans not being “AHHHHHHH!” for an AJA/KANSAI match shows just how far Kansai has fallen and how obvious Aja was going to win.

But then, in a BIG moment for GAEA, Aja talks shit to Kansai & Yamada on the mic, screams “TOYOTA!!!!”… and new music plays! And the piano tune and synth beat are new, yet utterly recognizable as someone’s signature- MANAMI TOYOTA IS HERE! Coming out in street clothes, she stares down everyone, but surprisingly Aja’s ready to greet her and it’s Yamada, her ex-partner, who is bug-eyed and overselling shock. Oh but it’s soon clear- she’s here on AJA’s side. She gets on the mic and says something that immediately pisses off Yamada, who grabs her hair and it’s a pullapart scrap. Manami having a blank expression on her face for the whole thing makes it pretty funny that she’s formed a new Superteam with Aja Kong, her deadliest rival. And apparently Power Head will be the first sacrifices to it!

This one is actually translated with commentary. They are like “EHHHHHH!?” and respond to Aja’s shout, then they mention how Toyota just announced her resignation from AJW the previous night (bringing us in line with Zenjo’s run in this timeline). Backstage, Toyota diplomatically states that “things exploded” at Zenjo and she didn’t feel the need to stay there, and instead “I’d rather be in a group where I can do what I want, and be with the people I want to be with”. We get word from most of GAEA’s important players- Yamada is pissed and says Toyota is “lukewarm”, Meiko talks about the humiliation of her loss to Manami years ago, Chikayo says nothing in particular, and D-FIX admit they’re the most excited they’ve been in a long while, even if Toyota’s clothes are lame and she needs to lose some weight. Oh, D-FIX.

So uhhhhhhhhhhh yeah! Manami Toyota is now All Eli– in GAEA Japan! Now THAT’S a real game-changer. And maybe more than ever establishes that GAEA’s where you end up when you’ve run outta stuff to do elsewhere.