Joshi Spotlight: GAEA Japan in October 1997

GAEA JAPAN- G-PANIC! Critical Hit!:
(Oct. 18-19th)
* More GAEA Japan awaits, as a pair of matches are on their YouTube channel from late October, just after the last show I did. They’re in a teeny-tiny white gym, and starting off with Aja Kong coming to GAEA again to mess with Chigusa.

CHIGUSA NAGAYO & SAKURA HIROTA (GAEA) vs. AJA KONG & YOSHIKO TAMURA (Free Agents):
* An interpromotional tag! But it’s goofy ol’ Sakura doing her “training with the boss” thing again, taking on Aja (free from AJW) and Tamura. Chigusa’s in her black & yellow singlet again, Sakura’s in purple, Aja’s in green & black and Tamura’s in black & pink, looking pretty gigantic in there now. Sakura gets a good reaction for stepping in front of Chigusa when Aja taunts her- a “take ME on!” moment from the tiny kid.

Sakura jumps Aja before the bell, but Aja easily no-sells her ass attacks until Chigusa’s trip sets up one to the head, but Aja soon grabs her mid-air out of another one and gives her a literal spanking- Tamura gets cocky and eats the slingshot one to the chest instead. Sakura keeps throwing ass-themed offense and a flying splash gets two. Tamura hits running stuff and missile kicks to come back, then does pretty well against Chigusa, hitting a Bridging German for two! Chigusa nearly taps her out after a dragon suplex attempt, and Aja has to stop another thing. Chigusa kicks Tamura out of another comeback, but Tamura counters a Northern Lights suplex to her own version for two. Chigusa managers her own, but Aja tags her with an Uraken to set up another German for two.

Sakura with a Flying Ass to set up Chigusa’s vicious Powerbomb for two- the fans appreciate Tamura’s kickout. She gets missile kicked by Sakura, but tags out and Aja’s 2nd rope splash earns a “Fuck YOU!” bridge to Aja’s surprise. Aja gears up the Uraken, but Chigusa hits the GAEA MDK Sleeper and hauls her down, Sakura adding a flying footstomp, but Tamura footstomps CHIGUSA, and Aja preps the Avalanche Waterwheel Drop, only for SAKURA of all people to hit the mandatory sunset flip reversal- Aja kicks out after “1” to establish their tiers. Ass Spam gets a VERY close two, but Aja catches her with a German out of a slingshot ass for two. But Chigusa throws out a roundhouse kick to set up SAKURA trying Urakens, but Aja only stares her down and grabs her for the big “slap them in the face first” one, scoring an easy pin at (7:22 of 16:28 shown) while Tamura deals with Chigusa.

Sakura’s still total weaksauce in the ring, just throwing out repetitive offense, but Tamura already seems seasoned, hitting stuff like stepping backwards onto the top rope and hanging with Chigusa in sequences. Chigusa sold a bit for her, needing to counter her stuff and being countered in turn, but it’s a very “house show match” kind of thing. Very slow pace and simple sequences, and Aja just doing a few spots here and there.

Rating: *3/4 (perfectly fine, with Tamura’s potential clear, but held back by Sakura a lot)

AAAW JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TITLE MATCH:
MEIKO SATOMURA & SONOKO KATO vs. OZ ACADEMY (Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima):
* The Tag Titles of GAEA finally see another defense! All four of the top rookies of GAEA’s first year are here, each largely at their peak by this point, as the nagging injuries sem to have been healed. Everyone’s in the usual gear- Meiko red, Kato blue, Chikayo yellow/blue & Sugar white.

Everyone trades basic stuff to start, Meiko getting double-teamed but the champs trading kicks on Sugar, too. Kato & Sugar howl at each other in various holds as the match is mostly in “House Show Mode”. Sato fights out after stretching and they do an LCO pose on Kato but now Chikayo takes a beating and Meiko’s windmill punch. Meiko adds a slingshot forearm to her repertoire against Sugar, but the latter reverses Kato’s bulldog. They double-team her a bit, but soon Chikayo takes the rolling fireman’s carry and an assisted legdrop for two-counts. The first ten minutes has been mostly the champs. A Kato missile kick sends Chikayo tumbling right into Meiko’s leglock in a cool bit, but Chikayo reverses a double-team for two. Kato & Sugar fight up top, Sugar getting flipped out of a sleeperhold and a 2nd-rope legdrop gets two. Sugar counters the Dragon Suplex but takes an enzuigiri, catching the follow-up with a weak dragon screw into a hold. Double missile kick gets two, but Kato gets a sleeper after Sugar stuffs the dragon again. Meiko tries her cross-armbreaker but Sugar gets a leglock and Chikayo adds a flying stomp.

And just like that, they’re off with more effort- Meiko stuffs a German, but Chikayo gets her knees up on a double-team and the Rocket Launcher gets two on a writhing Meiko, who stops a German with a dramatic Fujiwara armbar that has Chikayo scrambling. The champs whip Chikayo off the ropes but Sugar grabs Kato so Chikayo can hit a rana on Meiko, getting two. They stop Meiko’s Super Cross-Armbreaker and Chikayo Germans her off the second rope into Sugar’s flying back elbow for two, and Chikayo nearly charges right into a DVD but slips out so Sugar can facecrusher Meiko to set up- oh crap, Chikayo dives right onto Meiko’s shoulders, and has to roll her up out of a DVD attempt! Chikayo has a full-on toddler tantrum at the kickout, and Sugar has to direct her to the top again, and they hit the Rocket Launcher Stomp! Except it mostly missed, but then Kato flies in with her OWN stomp… and also clearly misses Meiko when the heels move. See that would have been a rad spot if they’d all hit, lol. Chikayo tries to finish with her sunset flip, but lil’ Meiko shows crazy strength and leverage by stopping her flip, lifting her up a couple of times, and forcing her into the Death Valley Driver for the pin at (18:52 shown of 20:03)- the champs retain!

This was “just fuck around” for 15 minutes and “try to actually win the match” for five- a House Show Special. So it featured a lot of “mostly alright” stuff, with people having a “just good enough” match, dominated by the champs for ages, and nobody putting in THAT much effort but not exactly being lazy either until that flying stomp and then they ramped it up. The first 3/4 was therefore pretty annoying despite being competently wrestled, as it’s mostly scrappy, sloppy fighting with no story developing, but the last 1/4 was very good. Sadly the Flying Stomps that were to set up the finish both missed (the camera angle being in perfect position to catch that), but it was still pretty solid.

Rating: *** (sub-par stuff followed by very good stuff, with a good ending sequence that isn’t QUITE top-tier but shows how good everyone is)