Skip to main content
Scott's Blog of Doom!
  • Daily News Update
  • WWE
  • WWF
  • AEW
  • WCW
  • Wrestling Observer Flashback
  • Scott's Books!

Sonoka Kato

Joshi Spotlight: GAEA The World

31st December 2021 by Jabroniville

GAEA THE WORLD:
(Dec. 2nd, 1995)

* One more GAEA show- this one has a weird look to it, where the ring is HIGHLY reflective and looks nearly silver on the tape transfer, so there’s these super-prominent dark shadoes of the wrestlers. It’s very odd.

BOMBER HIKARU & CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA (GAEA) vs. BAD NURSE NAKAMURA & MIWA SATO (FMW):
* A weird “Dream Match” of sorts, as FMW’s mid-tier heel team takes on GAEA’s Bomber, plus a rookie. Sato has frizzy, crimped hair (the universal sign of the high school ruffian) and silver facepaint, Bad Nurse has black clothes and ghost-white facepaint, Bomber’s in black/purple/green & Chikayo’s in yellow/black. And the GAEA girls storm the ring during the introductions to go right on the attack!

Bomber stacks the heels up and splashes onto them, then scraps with Sato, who actually does the JB Angels bridge-out before getting caught in a crab. Chikayo takes a beating once she’s in, Sato & Nurse making like LCO and repeatedly double-teaming her and taunting the crowd. This goes on for way too long, with nothing more complicated than a bodyslam, but Chikayo finally hits a Stone Cold Stunner and escapes, only for Bomber to get nailed from the apron and whipped with a flag (?) and struck by multiple soda cans (which a camera close-up reveals are EMPTY). But Nurse eats one by mistake and Bomber steals hers and whales away with it. Chikayo does rookie offense on Nurse but actually nails a rana, then leapfrogs off Bomber’s shoulders with a dropkick for two. But the towel gets involved and they beat on Bomber with some very basic stuff, then Nurse uses a rolling cradle of all things for two. She does an STF so bad even Cena would shame her, but runs into a powerslam for two.

Continue reading →
Rants →

Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan Miracle Night

20th December 2021 by Jabroniville

GAEA MIRACLE NIGHT:
(08.05.1995)
* Whoops- I missed one in the GAEA list somehow! This one is from early August. I can only find a couple of matches on YouTube. We apparently miss Bomber Hikaru beating Toshie Uematsu (3:35).

KAORU (GAEA Japan) vs. CANDY OKUTSU (JWP):
* KAORU takes on another invader in a Dream Match- Candy is well below her on the pecking order, but it seems clear that JWP has high hopes for her. KAORU’s just the worker to reign in Candy’s slippy-sloppy flying, too. Both are in white with black, KAORU in her singlet and Candy in a tasseled thing.

Continue reading →
Rants →

Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Wrestle of Dreams

11th October 2021 by Jabroniville

GAEA WRESTLE OF DREAMS:
(06.18.1995)
* It’s another GAEA Korakuen show, featuring more of a lesser cast that the previous ones, though if features the #2 & 3 GAEA wrestlers paired off in a match, with KAORU taking on Bomber Hikaru. The Main Event is a peculiar one- Chigusa Nagayo taking on FMW’s Bad Nurse Nakamura of all people! I’ll also add in the next show they did, featuring KAORU vs. Candy Okutsu, and Chigusa, Meiko & Kato against Devil Masami and the two Tomokos from JWP!

This one’s missing a short Meiko Satomura vs. Chihiro Nakano match (2:41), and Chikayo Nagashima beating Makie Numao in (6:03 of 12:05 shown) in Makie’s debut match. She makes a real go of it, lasting about four years, but appears to be a job girl the entire time from a quick scan of CageMatch, almost always losing.

MOST FIGHTING G vs. J:
TOSHIE UEMATSU & SONOKO KATO (GAEA Japan) vs. TOMOKO MIYAGUCHI & TOMOMI KOBAYASHI (JWP):
* Rookie Mayhem starts us off, with Uematsu (green) & Kato (blue) representing GAEA against Miyaguchi (red) & Kobayashi (yellow) from JWP. Miyaguchi is the future Ran Yu-Yu and has looked okay in the past. These names are absolutely awful for my poor typing, lol- I can’t even switch to first names, because then it’s Toshie, Tomoko & Tomomi! Thank God this is clipped.

Continue reading →
Rants →

Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan’s First Show!

30th August 2021 by Jabroniville

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B_ymlL2QeQ&ab_channel=GAEAISM%E5%85%AC%E5%BC%8F%E3%83%81%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%8D%E3%83%AB

The first two matches of the show.

GAEA MEMORIAL FIRST GONG:
(April 15th 1995)

* HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER! So sometime in 1994, Chigusa Nagayo, having come out of retirement the previous year and wrestled the occasional match for JWP Project (curiously, rarely at her former company, AJW), announced that she had formed a new Joshi promotion called GAEA Japan, with some different backers. Given that Joshi was still going through a Golden Age of sorts, this seemed like someone was trying to capitalize on a hot product, and Chigusa could control things in a way she liked. I dunno what the general impression was with the public at the time, but Chigusa was still the biggest star in Joshi history, even though her peak was ages ago (it would be like Hulk Hogan backing a promotion in 2001… wait, didn’t that actually happen?).

This ends up throwing a spanner into the works of Joshi promotions as a whole, as there were only four promotions really doing it (and FMW only did it as a small division of their shows). GAEA adds a fifth, though the star power isn’t huge at first- Chigusa poaches Kaoru Maeda (herself barely used by AJW) and the two train the entire first class by themselves, including names like Meiko Satomura, Sonoka Kato & Toshiyo Uemura. JWP still seems on friendly terms with her, too, judging by their usage on this show. I often wonder what would have happened if cooler heads had prevailed and the companies would just merge and be stronger- a combined LLPW & JWP would make for a much stronger company, y’know? And imagine GAEA attaching to THAT. But I guess people had to hate each other and try their own thing.

This ends up having major repercussions for the business, though- through a variety of business, economy-related and star-power concerns, Joshi goes through a major flux in the next couple of years, producing even MORE promotions as things splinter in a way that the business never recovers from… and GAEA Japan will one day sit at the top of it, getting its own reputation for good and ill (“The Joshi Retirement Home”, never mind Chigusa’s manner of booking herself). But for now it’s just one star, one minor star, and a bunch of rookies!

“TL;DR- Why Should I Watch This?”: Most of the matches here are super-green rookies debuting against each other, but the last two matches are legitimately fantastic ****-ish affairs, and are one-time only Dream Matches. Also this is the very first match of the legendary Meiko Satomura.

Continue reading →
Rants →

Search

Recent Posts

  1. Evening Daily News Update March 25, 2023
  2. The SmarK Rant for WWE NXT – 12.12.12 March 25, 2023
  3. Smackdown – March 24, 2023 March 24, 2023
  4. Greatness in a short dose March 25, 2023
  5. WrestleMania IX, XXX years later March 25, 2023
  6. Mike Reviews Shows Considered To Be Stinkers – WWF WrestleMania XI March 25, 2023
  7. Roman March 25, 2023
  • Email Scott
  • Twitter Twitter
  • Patreon Patreon
© 2023 Scott's Blog of Doom. Read about our privacy policy.