NJ TV 11/3 Final Power Hall in Fukuoka Dome taped 11/2 Fukuoka Dome
Keiji Muto & Masa Chono vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Genichiru Tenryu. Slow paced with no heat. Boring. *
Naoya Ogawa vs. Erwin Vreeker. Two incredibly green guys doing nothing for 3 minutes. -*1/2
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Humbert Numrick. Rounds style mixed match. Hashimoto tried, but he was only able to make it watchable. 3/4*
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Riki Choshu. Slow paced match with little heat and no sequences. Pretty boring. Match just ends, and there's no pop for the finish. Riki looks like the tank is on E, if not below. *1/4
GAEA Champ Forum #1 11/4/97 originally aired 5/6/95 GAEA First Card taped 4/15/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
*This was GAEA's first TV show. Notice that they aired all the matches with the new girls and saved the main events for the 2nd show.
GAEA NEO SOUL BATTLE: Chikayo Nagashima vs. Toshie Uematsu. Both women made their debut here. They went to a 15:00 draw plus two 3:00 overtimes. Thus, they were out there an eternity considering their experience level, but they stayed within themselves. They did as good as they possibly could, but it was mainly a bunch of rookie spots. Decent.
GAEA NEO SOUL BATTLE: Meiko Satomura vs. Sonoko Kato. Again both made their debut. Much more action than the previous match, but they blew more spots. Not too good.
GAEA NEO SOUL BATTLE: Sugar Sato vs. Narita. Both debuted here. They pretty much did the typical rookie spots. While it was far from a good match, like Chikayo vs. Uematsu, it was good for a rookie style match, which was impressive because sometimes women are wrestling for a year before they do a good for a rookie style match.
1/6/95: Harley & Eagle vs. Midori & Futagami. Good match with Harley & Futagami shining.
11/19/94: Harley & Futagami & Endo vs. Kandori & Midori & Tawada. Good work and exciting match with heat on the Kandori/Harley and Endo/Tawada confrontations, but some spots were badly blown.
4/15/95: Ozaki & Super Heel vs. Kansai & Chigusa. The main event of the first GAEA show. Very good match with blood due to tons of brawling. The Super Heel gimmick really limits Devil, but Ozaki was real good carrying the team, and she took a hell of beating in the process. Lots of good false finishes, really making it look like Oz was jobbing, but she eventually pinned Chigusa with a Toyota roll after Devil hit her in the gut with her rod.
More!
Mayumi Ozaki & Devil Masami vs. Dynamite Kansai & Chigusa Nagayo. Started off fast-paced, but turned into a big bloody brawl. This wasn't sloppy, contrived, or chaotic like most brawls. Although it wasn't particularly structured, it was actually well worked. Ozaki looked particularly good, but Devil carried the match with her. Even though Devil was doing some Super Heel stuff, she actually accompanied it with good wrestling. There was a nice hot tag where Ozaki was choking Kansai with a chain and pulling toward the center, but Kansai choked herself more in order to get Chigusa back into the match. Considering the length of most GAEA main events, it's weird to think their first went almost 30 minutes. ***3/4
Special price $16 or $21.50 COOP*
1/6/95: Kazama & Omukai vs. Kandori & Endo. Good match. Solid, but unspectacular.
12/13/94 LLPW Title: Tateno vs. Handa. Good solid match, but slow paced.
More
6/18/95: Narita & Ishikura vs. Sato & Nakayama. Decent match with Ishikura looking better than her FMW counterpart Kaori.
6/18: Ozaki & Yagi vs. Toyoma & Bomber. Very good match, I think the best regular tag that I've seen either Bomber or Toyama in simply because Oz & Yagi did a great job of making this interesting. Exciting match that was a melting pot of styles with lots of comedy and Yagi even playing heel.
6/18 Burning Heart: Chigusa vs. Devil. Very good match. Basically what you'd expect with teases of the big spots, very good selling, knockdown spots like in their famous 8/22/85 match, slow pacing, etc. Heat was disappointing.
More!
LLPW Tag Titles: Midori & Omukai vs. Futagami & Endo. Only about half the match aired. What they showed was pretty decent, picking up in the second half with a series of near falls before Midori pinned Endo to retain.
7/29/95: Chikayo vs. Numao. Numao's debut match.
7/29 First Cross GAEA Blood: KAORU vs. Bomber. KAORU carried this to a pretty good match.
7/29 Stop The Danger Fight: Chigusa vs. Bad Nurse. Really lousy brawl with no workrate or psychology that makes Kudo's work look all the more impressive. Chigusa juiced immediately, but came back and put Nurse away then argued with Shark after the match.
2/10/95: Nagashima vs. Yukari. Good match controlled and carried by Nagashima, who predominantly used heel tactics, which caused Yukari to juice.
2/10: Harley & Tateno vs. Kandori & Kazama. Good match, with solid work, but few ups and downs.
2/10 LLPW singles title tournament: Handa vs. Eagle. Good match because of Handa, who was a rat-bastard heel from the outset, and Eagle actually trying to work helped things. Cool post match angle with Handa getting Kandori & Kazama pissed at her.
More!
Champ Forum GAEA Collection #7 taped 8/26/95 taped 8/5 Niigata
Toshie Uematsu vs. Bomber Hikaru. Sprint. Uematsu is fiery and shows potential.
Flying & Jumping: Candy Okutsu vs. KAORU. They had a bit of trouble working together, but it was a good match with the typical nice spots by both as well as a lot of matwork before picking it up. Candy was treated as a star rather than a youngster who was pushing the veteran.
Miracle Fight New Faces Step Up: Devil & Kuzumi & Miyaguchi vs. Chigusa & Satomura & Kato. Disappointing match that was kind of dull and didn't really go anywhere. No heat when Devil was beating on Chigusa.
Champ Forum GAEA Collection #8 11/4/95 taped 9/17 Osaka
Tomoko Miyaguchi & Sonoko Kato vs. Bomber Hikaru & Saburo
Full Tune Up Heat The Heartbeat: Hikari Fukuoka & KAORU vs. Devil & Kansai. Very good match with tons of action and lots of cool spots that can only be done in tag matches. Kansai was a one-woman wrecking crew.
The Street Fight In Full House: Ozaki vs. Chigusa. This ruled hard and is the best of the Oz/Chigusa matches I've seen so far. A great bloody brawl, but also a wrestling match that built to all the big spots, and teases of them, for near finishes back and forth. The only problem was a few spots was off. Excellent.
Champ Forum GAEA Collection #9 1/6/98 originally aired 11/25/95 taped 11/3 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
G vs. J 3 on 3 Mix: Motoya & Chihiro Nakano & Amano vs. Toshie (Sugar) Sato & Satomura & Yuki Miyazaki. All action but the spots were really basic. Sato was the best of the bunch.
Battle Formation To Danger Zone: Devil & Ozaki vs. Hikari & KAORU. Very good match, though slow paced because they were going so long. This went to a 45:00 draw. That length extended them beyond their capabilities, but I guess that's what you have to do when you have a main event of Shark vs. Chigusa, which thankfully didn't air.
Champ Forum GAEA #10 1/13/98 originally aired 1/6/96 taped 12/2/95 Hamamatsu Shi Taiikukan
Crush The Poison "G" Fighter's Soul: Bad Nurse & Miwa vs. Bomber & Chikayo. Miwa, and especially Bad Nurse, are quite bad in this match. The match is poor, but it's good for GAEA because it helps get Chikayo over as a spunky youngster who won't back down or give up.
GAEA's Brand "Grazie": KAORU & Sonoko Kato vs. Chigusa & Uematsu. Solid but unspectacular match. Uematsu and Kato look good at times, with Uematsu showing more potential, but looked their experience level in others.
Champ Forum GAEA #11 taped 12/23/95
Neo Energy Queen History '95: Chikayo vs. Chihiro Nakano. Green work. Dull and kind of sloppy.
Scramble Soul To Soul: Megumi Kudo & Kaori Nakayama & Yukari Ishikura (FMW team) vs. KAORU & Satomura & Uematsu. The veterans were willing to sell for the youngsters. Pretty decent match with low level spots early building to the youngsters best spot or two at the end.
Wrestlism: Chigusa vs. Combat Toyoda. Disappointing. Finish was good, but much of the rest of the match was slow paced and dull.
LLPW Flashback taped 5/23/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Harley Saito vs. Mizuki Endo. Good match. Crisp action. Stiff, believable, and solid work. Great job by Harley.
Shinobu Kandori & Carol Midori vs. Eagle Sawai & Rumi Kazama. Lots of near falls during the finishing sequence and the surprise finish of Midori pinning Rumi, but the match wasn't very exciting.
Leo Kitamura & Midori vs. Harley & Omukai
Kandori vs. Mizuki Endo. Designed to get Endo over as someone who had a lot of heart, and it worked. Endo keeps losing, 4 times in all, but keeps having the match restarted. Crowd gets behind Endo more and more as the match goes on for breaking Kandori's finishers and not wanting to quit even though she's getting her head handed to her.
Champ Forum GAEA #12 3/16/96 taped 1/14/96 Tokyo
Original Captain Fall Match: Chigusa & Kansai (JWP) & Bomber & Bolshoi (JWP) & Saburo (JWP) & Sugo (JWP) vs. Devil (JWP) & Oz (JWP) & KAORU & Cuty (JWP) & Hikari (JWP) & Numao. Good match with cool tag spots like a 7-dive sequence and a quadruple diving headbutt. Finish was terrible.
Hiromi Yagi (JWP) vs. Toshie Uematsu. This was the Hiromi Yagi show. She made Uematsu, who was quite green, look like a good solid wrestler. Smooth transitions and sequences due to Yagi. Easily Uematsu's best singles up to this point and she hasn't exactly topped it often since.
Fight To The Last Young Generation One Night Tag Tournament Final: Kuzumi (JWP) & Chikayo vs. Sonoko Kato & Yuki Miyazaki (JWP). Fast paced match with a lot of spots. Pretty good work. Kuzumi & Chikayo win the tournament.
LLPW Flashback Taped 5/23/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Tateno vs. Mikiko Futagami
Michiko Nagashima & Miki Handa
Chigusa & Bomber vs. Eagle & Yukari
Champ Forum GAEA Collection #13 2/6/98 originally aired 4/20/96 taped 3/8 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
ATTACK3: KAORU & Fukuoka (JWP) vs. Uematsu & Chikayo. This match needed someone to carry it, but no one stepped up. Uematsu & Chikayo seemed to be on offense almost the whole time, but their offense didn't do enough damage for the veterans to be able to sell it much. Average match.
Hasegawa Sakie SINGLE COUNTDOWN SPECIAL: Chigusa vs. Sakie (AJW). The post match is very emotional with Chigusa letting Sakie pin her and all the GAEA wrestlers giving Sakie flowers. Sakie just didn't have it anymore in the ring though, so the actual match was nothing special. Average.
Champ Forum GAEA Collection #14 2/10/98 originally aired 5/11/96 taped 4/3 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
VIOLENT EMOTION: KAORU vs. Meiko Satomura. KAORU tried to carry, but isn't capable. No heat and no direction. Bad match.
NEO ENERGY QUEEN HISTORY '95: Sonoko Kato vs. Toshie Uematsu. Good, all-action match. These two went all out to win, but even after two overtimes no one could score a pinfall.
Chikayo Nagashima vs. Michiko Nagashima (LLPW). Michiko dominated the match, but Sokoko Kato had an issue with her, so she repeatedly made saves for Chikayo. Chikayo didn't want Kato saving her though, so they argued and fought about it. Good match.
Champ Forum GAEA Collection #16 2/24/98 originally aired 6/22/96 taped 5/12/96 Club Citta Kawasaki
Hustle Super Battle Royal: This was a cool match with good comedy and all kinds of spots where they picked someone to gang up on and all did the same spot to her. Good match.
Hustle Cup Junior Star Tournament Semifinal: Chikayo Nagashima vs. Sonoko Kato. Bad match with both looking green.
Hustle Cup Junior Star Tournament Semifinal: Meiko Satomura vs. Toshie Uematsu. Good submission oriented match with a great finish.
Hustle Cup Junior Star Tournament Final: Satomura vs. Kato. These two went at it hard and had a tough final. Match was solid, but the finish came too soon. Good match.
LLPW Flashback #42 2/23/98
Tateno Noriyo Pro Wrestling 15th Anniversary: Tateno vs. Kazama. Boring due to the slow pace and execution of the spots and the typical dead LLPW crowd. Average match.
LLPW vs. GAEA singles match: Jenn Yukari vs. Bomber Hikaru (GAEA). Kind of like the last match, but with worse talent. Average match.
Eagle & Rumi vs. Kandori & Tateno. This was faster paced and had more heat between the workers than the other matches on this show did. Good match.
LLPW Flashback #43 3/2/98 The 3rd Anniversary taped 8/4/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Handa & Michiko Nagashima vs. Yasha & Mizuki Endo. A brawl with gimmicks coming into play. Average match.
Karula (Harley Saito) vs. Carol Midori. Very good performance by Karula carrying Midori to a good match.
Kandori vs. Eagle. These two worked stiff together and had good facials to make it look like a grudge match. Solid work, but the crowd was even totally dead for this big match between the top two stars of LLPW.
Champ Forum GAEA Collection #17 3/3/98 originally aired 7/20/96 taped 6/16 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
WONDER FORTH: Shimoda (AJW) & Uematsu vs. KAORU & Sato. Fast-paced match with good work and lots of spots. Exciting, but no storyline or psychology. Good match.
LLPW 6 Woman Tag League: Bomber & Chikayo & Sato vs. Yasha & Midori & Futagami (LLPW team). Exciting match with good work and near falls back and forth. Tons of spots and a cool finish. Very good match.
G's BLOOD PERFORMER III: Yamada (AJW) & Satomura vs. Chigusa & Numao. Solid work. Numao's kicks looked really good. Numao scores the upset on Satomura. Average match.
Champ Forum GAEA Collection #18 3/10/98 originally aired 8/24/96 taped 7/20 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
RING ON THE BEAT: Bomber & Chikayo & Sato vs. Chigusa & KAORU & Uematsu. Good match, but the important thing is that after the match Ozaki offered Sugar a spot in the Oz Academy, which, much to the dismay of KAORU, Sugar accepted.
WILD HEAT: Ozaki (JWP) & Sato & Amano (JWP) vs. KAORU & Chikayo & Uematsu. Oz Academy mugged KAORU forever, causing her to juice. Oz had so much fun beating on KAORU that she was pulling her up at 2. Chikayo turned heel here. She stopped trying to help KAORU and just stood on the apron while Uematsu would try to make saves. When KAORU made a comeback and huracan rana'd Sato, Chikayo came in and kicked KAORU in the back to make the save. Very good match with real good work and a strong storyline.
SUCCEED TO THE GAEA SPIRIT: Chigusa & Satomura vs. Yamada & Sonoko Kato. Work was fine, but the match was too short to amount to anything.
LLPW Flashback #44 3/9/98 taped 9/25/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Highlights of Yukari vs. Aono, Omukai vs. Nagashima, and Eagle & Rumi vs. Kandori & Endo
Super Handicap Match: Futagami vs. Tateno & Harley. Work was good, but it was pretty one-sided and lacked heat.
Yasha vs. Midori. These two went all out to deliver a top notch match. The match had no heat though so all the near falls came off flat. Good match.
Highlights from LLPW's trip to Saipan.
Champ Forum GAEA Collection #19 3/23/98 originally aired 9/14/96 taped 8/18 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
+9: Yamada (AJW) vs. KAORU. Good match with big spots back and forth and really nice execution of them. Kind of short though.
MIRACLE GIRL: Satomura vs. Bomber. Nothing special. Satomura pins Bomber.
FIRE STARTER: Ozaki (JWP) & Sato & Nagashima & Amano (JWP) vs. Chigusa & Sonoko Kato & Uematsu & Sakura Hirota. This was Hirota's first TV match and she couldn't do anything. Oz Academy just teamed up to destroy her. Good match.
LLPW FLASHBACK #47 3/31/98 taped 11/5/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Michiko Nagashima vs. Mizuki Endo. Decent match, but Endo wasn't able to mount much resistance to Nagashima's heel technique.
Omukai vs. Jenn Yukari. Pretty good work though Yukari is a little sloppy. Average match.
Rumi & Karula vs. Futagami & Midori. Very good work and faster paced than normal. Good match. Kandori vs. Tateno. Good solid match. Tateno "injures" Kandori's shoulder.
Hokuto joins GAEA, TAKA & Funaki & Teioh & Togo & Shiryu vs. Tiger Mask 4 & Naniwa & Sasuke & Delfin & Hamada-4 1/4, GAEA Road to WCW tournament final: Uematsu vs. Hikari-Uematsu gets the "privilege," Hokuto & KAORU vs. Kato & Satomura
Champ Forum GAEA Collection #20 3/31/98 originally aired 9/16/96 taped 9/16 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
RECHALLENGE BATTLE: Bomber vs. Maiko Matsumoto. Bad match with lousy work and blown spots. Matsumoto's first TV match, and she actually gets the win.
BACK FIRE 1 vs. 2 Handicap Match: KAORU vs. Chihiro Nakano & Makie Numao. Bad match because Nakano & Numao were very green and KAORU can't carry.
GO FOR BLOCK: Satomura vs. Hirota. Hirota did a couple dropkicks then Satomura made her submit. DUD.
BRAKE OUT! Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Sonoko Kato & Uematsu. This was the first very good match between all GAEA youngsters. Lots of action and very good work. Oz Academy was really good here. ***1/2
Champ Forum Michinoku Pro Collection #1 4/6/98 originally aired 1/13/94 taped 12/10/93 Iwate-ken Ei Taiikukan
Tarzan Goto & Great Sasuke vs. Mr. Pogo & Masaru Toi. Dull bloody brawl with no heat and weak work. Sasuke gets little offense in. Bad match.
Mascara Contra Mascara: Super Delfin vs. Sato (now Dick Togo). Great, well built match. It lacked the atmosphere of a big match, but that may have been in part because the announcers seemed to drown the crowd out. Sato unmasks. ****1/4
Champ Forum GAEA Collection #21 4/2/98 originally aired 11/27/96 GAEA Japan in Singapore Part 1 taped 11/2/96 Singapore Indoor Stadium
AAAW Jr. Heavy Tag Title Final: Sato & Nagashima vs. Kato & Satomura. Very good match, but their match from the previous Champ Forum was a bit better. This match had the better work of the two, but it was all spots, losing the storyline of injuring Kato's knee and all the Oz Academy's heel tactics. Kato & Satomura become first AAAW Jr. Tag champs. ***1/2
EVERYBODY FLYING NOW! KAORU & Ishii vs. Uematsu & Nakano.
GO AHEAD! Hokuto vs. Sakura Hirota
Champ Forum Michinoku Pro Collection #2 4/13/98 originally aired 1/27/94 taped 12/23/93 FMW at Tokyo Korakuen Hall
9 Woman Battle Royal. Beyond awful.
Sambo Asako & Terry Boy & Koji Nakagawa vs. Oya & Naniwa & Yone Genjin. Poor.
No Rope Barbed Wire Tornado 6 Man Death Match: Onita & Tarzan Goto & Sasuke vs. Pogo & Toi & Shinzaki. Shinzaki does his rope walk on the barbed wire. Sasuke does Sasuke Special over the barbed wire. No work or sequences, just slice and dice. Poor.
Champ Forum GAEA Collection #23 4/14/98 originally aired 11/30/96 GAEA Japan in Singapore Part 2 taped 11/2/96 Singapore Indoor Stadium
RUN AWAY: Uematsu vs. Matsumoto. Bad.
Bomber vs. Numao. Stupid comedy and poor transitions. Bad.
AAAW Heavyweight Title Final: Chigusa vs. Devil. Good match. Solid work. Slow paced and got sloppier as the match went on and they got tired. Chigusa wins title.
Champ Forum Michinoku Pro Collection #3 4/20/98 originally aired 2/19/94 taped 2/4 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Terry Boy vs. Ricky Fuji. Fuji tried to carry, but he didn't look too good. Terry juiced a gusher over his eye. Dull match with very little offense. Terry does his Funk offense. Average.
Shin Michinoku The Best: Sasuke & Sato & Shiryu vs. Delfin & Shinzaki & Naniwa. Not surprisingly, Shinzaki was the weak link in the match, but everyone else was damn good. They did all their classic spots. Too much comedy though, which hurt the pacing. Great work. ***3/4
AMBITIOUS: Ozaki & Sato vs. Amano & Chikayo. Battle of the Oz Academy. Great work and good storyline with Amano using a chair to thwart her mentors pin attempts. Everything was executed perfectly. ****
MEGA SHOCK BATTLE 1st STAGE: Hokuto vs. Satomura. Good veteran vs. promising youngster match. Hokuto controlled most of the match, but Satomura made hot comebacks. Both were good. ***1/4
MEGA SHOCK BATTLE 2nd STAGE: Chigusa vs. Sonoko Kato. UWF style bout. ***1/4
Infernal KAORU (KAORU) vs. Jabuki (Hokuto), Tanaka vs. Yuki Ishikawa, Otsuka & Ikeda vs. Ono & Usuda, more!
Ozaki & Sato & Nagashima vs. Kato & Nagayo & Satomura, KAORU & Ichiki vs. Hokuto & Uematsu, Jaguar & Abe vs. Cooga & Sogabe, Funaki vs. Naniwa, TAKA vs. Sayama, Sasuke & Hamada & Delfin vs. Shiryu & Togo & Teioh, Liger vs. Otani-4 3/4, more!
GAEA 3/1/97 taped 2/16 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Sonoko Kato & Sakura Hirota & Hiromi Kato vs. Toshie Uematsu & Kyoko Ichiki & Rina Ishii
WCW Women's Cruiserweight Championship Tournament
Chihiro Nakano vs. Sugar Sato. Clip
Makie Numao vs. Meiko Satomura. Clip
Tournament Final: Sato vs. Satomura.
KAORU & Maiko Matsumoto vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Akira Hokuto
Michinoku Pro 5/3/94
TAKA Michinoku vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa
Terry Boy vs. Masato Yakushiji
Wellington Wilkins Jr. vs. Yone Genjin
Michinoku Pro 6/7/94 taped 4/29 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan
Terry Boy & TAKA Michinoku vs. The Monkey Magic & Rayo de Negro
The Great Sasuke vs. Jinsei Shinzaki. This got a decent amount of support for 1994 Observer Match of the Year. It was a very good match with some incredible high spots, but I've yet to figure out how someone could think it was one of the top 3 matches of 1994. ****
GAEA 3/22/97 taped 2/23 Nagoya Shi Taiikukan
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo. Reviewed in Quebrada #21. ***1/4
Michinoku Pro 8/16/94 taped 7/30 Yahaba
Infernal KAORU vs. Chaparita ASARI
SATO & Kendo & Pilota Suicida vs. Super Delfin & Super Boy & Gran Naniwa
TAKA Michinoku vs. Jado. This is on par with the Sasuke vs. Shinzaki match, IMO. First 10 minutes were solid then they did some awesome high spots. Crowd was getting really into TAKA getting near fall after near fall. Jado does a Frankensteiner with TAKA standing on the top rope.
GAEA 4/19/97 taped 3/15 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
UNBALANCE AND SCOOP: Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Rina Ishii & Maiko Matsumoto
STREET DREAMS: Toshie Uematsu vs. Makie Numao
PRIDE: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Sakura Hirota & Hiromi Kato
WORLD BRAND: Akira Hokuto & Sonoko Kato vs. KAORU & Meiko Satomura
GAEA 4/26/97 taped 4/21 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan 2
*Reviewed in Quebrada #25*
WCW Women's Cruiserweight Title: Toshie Uematsu vs. Yuka Shiina. **
Akira Hokuto & Maiko Matsumoto vs. Reiko Amano (JWP) & Chikayo Nagashima. *3/4
Devil Masami & Meiko Satomura vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Sonoko Kato. ***
Michinoku Pro
SATO & Terry Boy vs. Hanzo Nakajima & Naohiro Hoshikawa. Pretty good match, but not long enough to turn into anything.
TAKA Michinoku vs. Gran Naniwa. Very good match. Lots of high spots and near falls. TAKA was really good here. Naniwa's selling wasn't too good, especially when compared to TAKA's.
Super Delfin vs. El Samurai (NJ). Samurai carried this, so the psychology was nothing much but the work was very good. Match was very good, but the finish came too soon.
Hokuto & Matsumoto vs. Nagashima & Amano, Devil & Satomura vs. Chigusa & Kato, Kobashi vs. Kawada-Kawada wins Champion Carnival ****1/2, Yamada & Chigusa vs. Kato & Satomura, Oz & Nagashima vs. Hokuto & Matsumoto, more!
GAEA 5/24/97
4/12/97 Hakata Starlane: KAORU vs. Akira Hokuto. Akira picked her spot here and had her best match of 1997. Unfortunately, the reality is that Akira can't produce a classic like she could in 1993 and KAORU is just a spot machine. This had tons of big spots, but they weren't utilized as well as they could have been and the drama wasn't near the level it should have been. Very good.
5/10/97 Niigata Shi Taiikukan: KAORU & Chihiro Nakano vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Makie Numao
5/18/97: KAORU & Nakano & Numao vs. Chigusa & Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato. Highlights
Michinoku Pro 11/18/94
Masato Yakushiji vs. Shark Machine (Wellington Wilkins Jr.)
No Rope Explosive Barbed Wire Land Mine Double Hell Time Bomb Death Match (or something like that): The Great Sasuke vs. Atsushi Onita (FMW)
Note: some if not all matches digested
2/16 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Toshie Uematsu & Kiyoko Ichiki & Rina Ishii vs. Sonoko Kato & Sakura Hirota & Hiromi Kato
Chigusa Nagayo & Akira Hokuto vs. KAORU & Maiko Matsumoto
3/15 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Akira Hokuto & Sonoko Kato vs. KAORU & Meiko Satomura
4/12 Hakata Starlane: Akira Hokuto vs. KAORU. Akira picked her spot here and had her best match of 1997. Unfortunately, the reality is that Akira can't produce a classic like she could in 1993 and KAORU is just a spot machine. This had tons of big spots, but they weren't utilized as well as they could have been and the drama wasn't near the level it should have been. Very good.
WCW World Women's Cruiserweight 1st Champion league digest
4/21 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2
WCW World Women's Cruiserweight Title Match: Toshie Uematsu vs. Yuka Shiina
Akira Hokuto & Maiko Matsumoto vs. Chikayo Nagashima & Reiko Amano
Devil Masami & Meiko Satomura vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Sonoko Kato
4/29 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Chigusa Nagayo & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato
WCW World Women's Cruiserweight Title Match: Toshie Uematsu vs. Sugar Sato
Akira Hokuto & Maiko Matsumoto vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Chikayo Nagashima
GAEA taped 5/25 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
*Reviewed in Quebrada #29*
KAORU vs. Chigusa Nagayo. Much more submission oriented than you'd expect. Like an ARSION style match, except it was pre-ARSION. A sprint with KAORU doing her typically poor job of incorporating her spots. What they did looked good although some of it didn't make the most sense. **3/4
Toshiyo Yamada & Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs. Akira Hokuto & Toshie Uematsu & Maiko Matsumoto. Too long. Some good stuff, but kind of scattered with a lot of filler. **
Michinoku Pro taped 10/30/94 Iwate
Highlights of Sasuke vs. Onita Death Match
UWF Super Welterweight Title: Super Delfin vs. El Pantera. Pantera could do great spots and complicated sequences better than he could do basic wrestling. Delfin tried to carry this, but as usual wasn't very successful. Short match that was enjoyable because of the spots, but kind of weak in the mental aspects. **1/2
Jinsei Shinzaki & TAKA Michinoku & Gran Naniwa vs. Dick Togo & MEN'S Teioh & Shiryu. Shinzaki did a mini rope walk on the bar of the scaffold. Sasuke was the best of the 6. Togo & Teioh didn't do all that much wrestling as the concentrated on being heels. Match did a good job of getting the heels over, but it was fairly one-sided with the heels dominating and TAKA in particular getting destroyed. ***
GAEA 7/5/97 taped 6/13 Kawasaki
*reviewed in Quebrada #32*
Meiko Satomura vs. Hiromi Kato. Worked shoot.
Makie Numao vs. Sonoko Kato. Worked shoot.
Elimination Match: Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima & Hiromi Kato & Toshie Uematsu & Maiko Matsumoto vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Toshiyo Yamada & Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato & Makie Numao. ***1/2
Michinoku Pro 1/27/95
Sato & Terry Boy & Shiryu vs. Super Delfin & Jinsei Shinzaki & Gran Naniwa. Pretty much straight Lucha. Strong work and some comedy. Great dive sequence. They hadn't begun doing the great 5 minute finishing sequence yet. ***3/4
Yone Genjin vs. Wellington Wilkins Jr. Highlights. Wilkins falls off the balcony to the floor (although some spotter helped catch his fall and the balcony wasn't all that high).
Terry Boy vs. Yakushiji in his green ant outfit. Highlights
Sato & Shiryu vs. Great Sasuke & Gran Hamada. Highlights
Super Delfin & Gran Naniwa vs. TAKA Michinoku & Jinsei Shinzaki. Battle of the heel side. Match got off to a slow start, but got really good toward the end, mainly due to TAKA. ***
GAEA 7/12/97 taped 6/22 Shizuoka
*Reviewed in Quebrada #32*
Akira Hokuto & Maiko Matsumoto vs. Hiromi Kato & Sakura Hirota. **1/2
Mayumi Ozaki & Sugar Sato vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Sonoko Kato. ***3/4
Michinoku Pro 3/16/95
Terry Boy & Hanzo Nakajima vs. Yone Genjin & Tsubo Genjin. Horrible match. Luckily the skipped the vast majority of it.
TAKA & Gran Naniwa vs. Sasuke & N.G. Hammer (Hamada). Good work and a lot of nice spots. ***
Sato vs. Super Delfin. Good solid match with the focus on psychology, selling, and putting over the toll of the match. Sato worked on Delfin's left knee. More like a Liger match than the typical Lucha. Very good comebacks by both men. Cheesy US style finish hurt the match. ****
GAEA 7/19/97 taped 7/2 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2
*Reviewed in Quebrada #33*
Chigusa Nagayo vs. Rina Ishii. *1/4
Akira Hokuto & KAORU vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Makie Numao. **1/4.
Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima & Maiko Matsumoto & Hiromi Kato vs. Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato & Toshie Uematsu & Sakura Hirota. **
Michinoku Pro 4/15/95
Sasuke vs. Stevie "J." "J's" execution was kind of slow and sloppy. Sasuke tried hard to carry him, but "J" kept screwing things up. One of Sasuke's worse, all due to "J." *1/4
TAKA vs. Minoru Tanaka. A combination of pro style and shoot style. TAKA's selling was really good. Tanaka did some cool counters into submissions. Much too short as there was no build at all. **1/2
Michinoku The Best 6 Man Tag Match: Sasuke & Sato & Shiryu vs. Delfin & TAKA & Naniwa. Too much comedy. Got off to a slow start, but really picked up for a great final 3 minutes. Overall, it was disappointing given the talent. ***
Shiratori vs. Bison
Jaguar & Kosugi & Sogabe vs. Lioness & Ryuna & Bloody. A brawl totally dominated by the heels. Kosugi was the bump girl until Lioness Liger bombed her on the floor which injured her legit, so the match eventually continued 2 on 3 since Kosugi had to be hospitalized. Jaguar was dominated, getting bloodied after Lioness piledrove her through a table, then actually pinned after Lioness being jackknifed through a table, towerhacker bombed, and Liger bombed off a table that was set up on the 2nd rope.
Neo Blood Tourney, with Yamamiya defeating Hasegawa after repeated knockdowns from knee lifts. Godsey defeats Kondo in a non-title bout.
AJ Junior Title: Sakai vs. Nakanishi
AAAW Tag Titles: Satomura & Kato vs. Miyaguchi & Saya. Very good match with real good performances by Satomura, Miyaguchi and Saya, who had her best performance to date.
Pancrase Rules: Toshiyo Yamada vs. KAORU-Yamada's GAEA debut.
Kato & Satomura vs. Chigusa & Uematsu.
Sato & Nagashima vs. Reyna Jabuki & Infernal KAORU. Very good 10 minute sprint
with innovative spots. Chikayo really shining here. Toshiyo Yamada was Jabuki for this one match.
IWGP Title: Hashimoto vs. Tenzan. Really stiff, but nothing special overall with Tenzan hurting and no one in the audience thinking he had a chance of winning.
More!
Highlights of Yamada's last AJW match (vs. Toyota)
Pancrase Rules: Toshiyo Yamada vs. KAORU. Yamada looked very comfortable in this situation. Pretty exciting match. KAORU's palm strikes were kind of week. Good.
Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Toshie Uematsu. Work was good and the match served its purpose. ***
Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Reyna Jabuki (normally Hokuto, but for this one time, Yamada) & Infernal KAORU. Very good match though a bit short. Very fast-paced 10 minute spot match. ***1/2
Rina Ishii & Sakura Hirota & Hiromi Kato (GAEA team) vs. Nana Fujimura & Aya Koyama & Miho Kawasaki (Big Japan team). No one had many spots, but the match was well laid out and practiced so they had it down well before they went out there. Lots of near falls with Ishii & Kato having good performances. **
Miyuki Fujii (AJW) vs. Sachie Abe (Jd'). Highlights.
Miyuki Sogabe (Jd') & Sari Osumi (JWP) vs. Nanae Takahashi & Miho Wakizawa (AJW team). Highlights.
ZENJYO VS. LLPW YOUNG GENERATION FIRST CONTACT: Tanny Mouse & Misae Genki (AJW team) vs. Keiko Aono & Miho Watabe (LLPW team). Aono was the best and Miho showed a lot of heart standing up to the much bigger Genki. AJW team looked bad. Below average.
GAEA VS. HEISEI GUREN-TAI HARDCORE SURVIVAL: Makie Numao & Maiko Matsumoto (GAEA team) vs. The Bloody (Jd') & Sayori Okino (LLPW) . Mediocre. Everyone here lacks offense and the heels aren't good at playing heel. *3/4
NEW HEROINE JUNIOR QUEEN CHALLENGE: Tomoko Kuzumi (JWP) vs. Chiharu (SPWF). This was practically Chiharu's first match. Kuzumi did a good job of carrying her, but it was a bad match by her standards because it had to be kept so simple. *3/4
AJ Jr. Title: Momoe Nakanishi (AJW) vs. Sumie Sakai (Jd'). Sakai was working on a fractured leg. This was fine technically, but it was an AJW junior style match so there weren't many high spots and there wasn't a lot of back and forth. **
NEO ENERGY SCRAMBLE: Sugar Sato (GAEA) & Chikayo Nagashima (GAEA) & Rieko Amano (JWP) vs. Yuka Shiina (AJW) & Kanako Motoya (JWP) & Yuko Kosugi (Jd'). Best match of the show. Really heated and exciting. Really good work with tons of action. Only 1/3 was shown, but it looked to be ****
WCW Women's Cruiserweight Title: Toshie Uematsu (GAEA) vs. Yoshiko Tamura (AJW). Good solid match. Uematsu really made this belt that WCW could care less about seem important. Submissions were well done, they put over the toll of the match, and the selling was really good. Tamura won the belt and Uematsu cried after the match because it was that important to her. ***1/2
AAAW Jr. Heavyweight Tag Titles: Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato (GAEA) vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi (JWP) & Saya Endo (AJW). Very good match featuring Saya's best performance to date and very good performances by Miyaguchi and Satomura. ***1/2
Champ Forum Groupo Revolucion 8/16/97
Sumo Fuji & Judo Suwa vs. Magnum Tokyo & Shima Nobunaga. Magnum & Nobunaga show great aerial skills. ***
Brazo De Plata & El Brazo & Halcon Negro vs. Tsubasa & Super Astro & Kendo. Bad match with a ton of wasted time. Even Astro was nothing special here. *
La Fiera & Emilio Charles Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon & Atlantis. Decent match, but the heels have aged so they didn't make the spots look as good as they once did. **1/4
Pancrase on GAORA 8/97 taped 8/9 Osaka Umeda Sutera (?) Hall
Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Yuki Kondo. Ok match. Minowa was really over matched, but he squirmed his way out of some compromising situations.
Kousei Kubota vs. Takaku Fuke. Uneventful
Kiuma Kunioku vs. Satoshi Hasegawa. Good technical bout.
Keiichiro Yamamiya vs. Osami Shibuya. Very even bout, but not particularly exciting. Ok.
Highlights of Ryushi Yanagisawa's kickboxing match from 7/25
Highlights of the Top 5 Bouts thus far in 1997:
5. Bas vs. Kunioku 4/27/97 Tokyo Bay NK Hall
4. Delucia vs. Takahashi 5/24/97 Kobe Fashion Mart
3. Funaki vs. Semmy Schilt 2/22/97 Tokyo Bay NK Hall
2. Yamamoto vs. TAKA 4/27/97 Tokyo Bay NK Hall
1. Delucia vs. Kunioku 6/18/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Champ Forum EMLL 8/23/97 taped 8/16 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Shinobi & Tsubasa vs. Brandon & Torbellino. Beginning missing due to a satellite problem. Pretty good.
Ultraman Jr. & Mano Negro Jr. & Mr. Aguila vs. Guerrero de la Muerte & Guerrero Futuro & Violencia. All kinds of great flying spots. These guys aren't polished workers though. ***1/4
Shocker & Mr. Niebla & Super Astro vs. Black Warrior & Rey Bucanero & Felino. Spotfest. Great flying and great bumps. Too short. ***3/4
Champ Forum GAEA 8/30/97 taped 8/15 Osaka
Pancrase Rules: Sugar Sato vs. Sonoko Kato. Decent worked match. Their strikes need improving.
Pancrase Rules: Makie Numao vs. KAORU. Another decent worked match. KAORU is very green in this style. Nice finish
Sonoko Kato & Rina Ishii & Sakura Hirota vs. Makie Numao & Maiko Matsumoto & Hiromi Kato. Kato & Ishii were good, but Hirota was terrible. No one could carry this and it was somewhat sloppy. *1/2
Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Toshiyo Yamada. Oz Academy team dominated most of the match, so they were credible in defeat. ***1/4
History of GAEA in the summer of 1994 from the formation until the shoot style movement in the summer of 1997. The tape mainly focuses on the young girls, with footage from the auditions, training at the dojo, and highlights of their debut and early matches.
Champ Forum GAEA 9/20/97
*Note: The first 3 matches are from the One Night Tournament and are shown in highlight form*
Sonoko Kato & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Rina Ishii & Sakura Hirota
Meiko Satomura & Makie Numao vs. Toshie Uematsu & Sugar Sato
Maiko Matsumoto & Hiromi Kato vs. Sonoko Kato & Chikayo Nagashima
One Night Tournament Final: Uematsu & Sugar vs. Sonoko Kato & Chikayo. Uematsu joined Sato in her heel tactics, which Sato had no problem using on her regular partner Chikayo. Good work and a lot of spots. Sato & Uematsu win tournament. ***1/4
WCW Women's Cruiserweight Title #1 Contenders Match: Uematsu vs. Sugar. This occurred right after the tag final. Fast paced match with big spots from the get go. Good while it lasted, but really short. **1/2
KAORU & Yamada vs. Chigusa & Hokuto. Sprint. Spotfest with no psychology, storyline, or selling. Work was real good though. ***1/4
Champ Forum Michinoku Pro 9/27/97 taped 8/31 Sendai
*reviewed in Quebrada #33*
UWA Super Welterweight Title: MEN'S Teioh vs. Tiger Mask 4. ****1/2
The Great Sasuke vs. Dick Togo. ****1/4
Footage of the important events in GAEA from the women training in the gym before they debuted up to the present with highlights of the forming of the Oz Academy, the title changes, and so on.
WCW Women's Cruiserweight Title: Sugar Sato vs. Yoshiko Tamura. Sato wear's a red Ozaki costume. Finish only. Sugar wins title.
KAORU & Sakura Hirota vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Sonoko Kato. Good match. Yamada was easily the best, and, as usual, Hirota sucked. ***
AAAW Heavyweight Title: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Aja Kong. Very good work, but much too short for a title match, though most likely that was because Chigusa had to work twice in one night since Hokuto was injured. Before the match they have a bunch of Aja's cans set up around the ring apron and Aja boots them. ***1/2
Meiko Satomura vs. Kyoko Inoue. Excellent veteran vs. promising youngster match. Great storyline and timing. Real good work and selling. Satomura's best singles match. Highlight is an incredible released German suplex by Kyoko. Read Review ****
AAAW Heavyweight Title: Zero (Chigusa) vs. Super Heel Devil Masami. Terrible main event with no redeeming factors. They worked at a snails pace and most of the "match" was brawling around the arena. The joke is that the reason they kept the lights flickering was so the customers would not be able to visually witness this debacle. Devil wins title. 3/4*
Satomura training with Yuki Kondo.
10/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Pancrase Rules: Meiko Satomura vs. Toshiyo Yamada. Had its moments, but had too many holes.
10/10: Sugar Sato vs. Chikayo Nagashima. Really fast action with high workrate and strong selling. Looked very good, but only 1/3 was shown.
10/13 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan 2: Meiko Satomura vs. Sonoko Kato. An attempt at a more realistic style match. Stiff. They worked up to the high spots pretty well. Finish was cool. Seemed like they were mainly trying things out in front of an audience. ***
10/19 Sapporo Teison Hall AAAW Junior Tag Titles: Kato & Satomura vs. Sugar Sato & Nagashima. Probably the solidest tag these four have had, but it was kind of sloppy. They seemed to be working above their capabilities instead of within themselves. Really kicked in at the 15 minute mark, but the early action didn't really build to this hot portion. ***1/4
Lots of clips of Sakura Hirota getting pinned and setting up the ring. Even in the "highlights" from her matches she doesn't look good.
10/19: Aja Kong & Yoshiko Tamura vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Sakura Hirota. Disappointing. Hirota was terrible as always. Tamura wasn't as good as normal because she's not used to working with this opposition. Aja barely broke a sweat. *1/4
11/8 Akutoshitei Hamamatsu: Sakura Hirota vs. Maiko Matsumoto. Matsumoto worked over Hirota's bad knee, which was hampering the normally unathletic Hirota to the point she got about 1 inch off the ground on her hip attacks, which suck to begin with. Too many lame, contrived, or missed spots. *1/4
11/18 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Hirota. Chigusa really carried things for her side so this would be good. Cachorras were typically excellent. Hirota took the match down, obviously. ***1/2
11/30 Nagoya Shi Taiikukan: Akira Hokuto & Sonoko Kato vs. Chigusa & Hirota. There's a big difference between Cachorras and Hokoto & Kato, so while this was still good, it wasn't close to the level of the previous match. Chigusa was once again really good. **1/2
Clips of Rina Ishii matches
11/29 Mutsuzaka Shi Sogo Taiikukan: Makie Numao & Matsumoto & Hirota vs. Toshie Uematsu & Ishii & Hiromi Kato. Numao was by far the best. Hirota sucked and some of the others didn't contribute much. *3/4
11/30: Ishii vs. Hiromi Kato. A few highlights, but generally nothing much. *1/2
11/30: Mayumi Ozaki & Sugar Sato vs. KAORU & Toshiyo Yamada. Read Review ****