12/13
Toshiyo Yamada vs. Toshie Uematsu. Both women looked ok. Decent match. **
KAORU & Meiko Satomura vs. Chigusa & Sonoko Kato. Spot wrestling. No rhyme or reason to any of the spots. No build or psychology. KAORU did an Orihara moonsault freaking 30 seconds into the match. *3/4
Level The Ground 12/27
Clips of High Spot 600 Tournament tournament matches
High Spot 600: Satomura vs. Numao. Good while it lasted, but the match was only 2:06
High Spot 600: Satomura vs. Sonoko Kato. Stiff UWF style match. Kato was the better of the two. Very good match, but too short. ***1/4
High Spot 600 Final: Sonoko Kato vs. Chikayo Nagashima. Good while it lasted, but a final that's 4:59? **
Hokuto & KAORU & Nagashima vs. Chigusa & Yamada & Sonoko Kato. Chigusa wanted everyone to shake hands before the bell, but Chikayo refused. Kato vs. Chikayo and KAORU vs. Yamada rivalries were played up here. Good work. Strong post match. ***1/4
Toshie Uematsu vs. Chigusa Nagayo. Work was quite good, but the match was nothing more than a very good Nitro match. Not long enough for Uematsu to really push. **1/2
Chikayo Nagashima vs. Chigusa Nagayo. Basically the same as the previous Uematsu match except Chikayo is a heel and a better worker. **3/4
Yasha Kurenai & Carol Midori (LLPW team) vs. KAORU & Toshiyo Yamada. Mediocre wrestling. Continued the dissention in the ranks of KAORU & Yamada storyline. Not bad, but nothing special. **
Devil Masami & Sakura Hirota vs. KAORU & Toshiyo Yamada. More problems between KAORU & Yamada. Devil doesn't bump like she used to, not that she was ever any great bump taker. Looked poor or possibly a little better, but only about 30% aired.
Las Cachorras Orientales vs. Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato. Satomura & Kato both bled. Way too one-sided. Work was quite good and everyone knew their role. Shimoda & Mita did a good job of carrying this. Started to get great as Satomura & Kato had no quit in them. They were still coming at LCO after 15 minutes of getting destroyed. Very good match. One-sided, but the thinking was that Satomura & Kato could get over just by taking this kind of beating from LCO for so long. ***1/2
Mayumi Ozaki & Sugar Sato vs. Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato. More like what the previous match should have been like. Work wasn't quite as good, but the match was better overall because it was far more competitive. Kato bled again. Sato was good here. Ozaki didn't steal the show, but she was smart and her timing was excellent. Satomura & Kato were about equal. ***3/4
2/8 Tokyo Allen Hall: Hirota & Uematsu vs. Satomura & Sonoko Kato. Everyone worked hard. There wasn't much of a bridge to the spots, but it got quite good when they started doing them. Uematsu carried her team, which was definitely a good thing. Exciting match. Uematsu was making last second saves, but finally Satomura held her off and Kato Dragon suplexed Hirota for the win. ***
2/21 Saitama Honkawagoe Pepe Hall Atrium
Rina Ishii vs. Satomura. Satomura did an excellent job of carrying this match that must have exceeded everyone's expectations. A lot of solid matwork, with Ishii looking surprisingly technically sound. They always kept the pace doing athletic spots to bring it back to the mat. Nice counters back and forth. They worked at a rapid pace at times, but it still wasn't easy to get spots off. It was going to come down to who could properly execute a legit finisher first. Satomura did a lot of "crying" here when she couldn't finish Ishii off, which was kind of lame considering how low Ishii is on the totem pole. ***1/2
Sonoko Kato vs. Chigusa. Typical Chigusa sprint. Exciting match, but it was way too short with Kato not pushing at all. Chigusa disciplined Kato after the match including hitting her several times. Satomura eventually tried to come to Kato's rescue, but she got the same treatment, including getting a bloody mouth. Both Satomura & Kato cried. Maybe if I could understand what Chigusa was saying this would have come off better, but it looked like a scene out of her dark Ring, Ring, Ring movie, which isn't a complement. **
2/22 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Hokuto & Chigusa vs. Sonoko Kato & Satomura. Match was kind of helter skelter. A sprint with way too many spots rolled out. Satomura, and especially Kato, took it to Chigusa. **1/2
Makie Numao highlights
Numao vs. Chigusa. Decent match, but very short and overall nothing special. 3/4
Sugar Sato & Nagashima vs. KAORU & Yamada. Mainly spots after they got the heels over. Work and spots were quite good. Yamada bled. Oz was outside the ring and she got involved a few times. At one point she whispered something in Hokuto's ear, which led to Hokuto hitting KAORU with a chair when she tried a swandive move. Yamada got into it with Oz, so Hokuto attacked her. ***1/2
3/15
Chikayo Nagashima vs. Sonoko Kato. Kato mainly used UWF offense, including injuring Chikayo's arms with an udehishigigyakujujigatame. Match was surprisingly sloppy, falling apart when Chikayo went on offense and uncharacteristically blew a few spots. Match just kind of ended. *3/4
Sugar Sato vs. Meiko Satomura. An experimental type match, that fell flat because it was too great a departure from what they do well. A lot of strikes back and forth. Satomura was the better of the two. **
Mayumi Ozaki & Nagashima vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Makie Numao. Typical Chigusa sprint. A workrate match where everyone looked good, but Ozaki was still the best by a wide margin. Too short. ***1/4
Ozaki & Sugar Sato vs. KAORU & Toshiyo Yamada. This continued the storyline of Yamada wanting to kick Ozaki's butt. However, this time KAORU & Yamada worked as a cohesive unit. Junior style match, although the spots weren't as glamorous. Work was as good as you'd expect, but, unfortunately, it was another sprint. The match was considerably better with Ozaki in. Yamada was fired up and KAORU is made for this type of match. ***1/2
Sakura Hirota vs. Satomura. Typical Hirota goofiness, although thankfully she kept it under 1000 hip attacks. The technique wasn't clean due to Hirota. *
3/29
Oz vs. Hirota. Execution was fine, but the match wasn't interesting as there were too many rest hold submissions. Hirota was typically awful on offense, and ruined the match as always. *3/4
AAAW World Junior Tag Titles: Sonoko Kato & Satomura vs. Sugar & Nagashima. Mainly work. No storyline. Hot action in the last 4+ minutes really made the match. Chikayo was the standout. ***1/2
*GAEA's 3rd Anniversary Tour*
taped 4/14 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Chikayo Nagashima vs. Meiko Satomura. This was more toward Satomura's style, submission oriented, although they went to their spots as the match progressed. Part of my problem with Satomura this year is, unlike Sato, Chikayo, & Kato, her mannerisms are still very childish. She also seems to have too much energy for her own good, as she gets too cute instead of just doing the spot. She seems to be under a lot of pressure, although much of it could be self imposed. Anyway, Chikayo did a good job here. The match had a lot of action, but it was sloppy in points, particularly the ones revolving around Satomura's Death Valley bomb finisher. ***
Toshie Uematsu vs. KAORU. A worked shoot under Pancrase type rules. The match had its moments, but it generally wasn't all that good. Uematsu was fiery and looked better than KAORU in this style. Matched was short and ended abruptly. Decent.
4/24 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2: Uematsu vs. Manami Toyota (AJW). Toyota was the same as always against the younger wrestlers, smiling too much, not really taking them seriously, not putting them over enough, not making it look like they really had a chance of winning, but working on a high level so the match is good even if it doesn't serve it's purpose nearly as well as it could. Work was obviously good and the match was exciting even though the outcome wasn't in doubt. Uematsu looked good here, and even pulled out some nice counters for near falls. The heat was disappointing, and even though the crowd wasn't too big and most women's matches in 1998 have no heat, some of the blame for this has to be placed on Toyota. ***1/4
4/29 Kanagawa Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan
KAORU & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Eagle Sawai & Michiko Nagashima (G-MAX). A spot brawl. Yamada juiced heavily, as she was mainly destroyed by Nagashima. Nagashima needed to work stiffer, especially when she was hitting Yamada with the chain. Everything seemed to happen really fast, but it was more toward being chaotic than fast-paced. Selling should have been better. Eagle was, not surprisingly, the worst. **
Highlights of all the first round and semifinal matches in the High Spot 600 Tournament
High Spot 600 Tournament Final: Sugar Sato vs. Meiko Satomura. The winner of this match got a spot in the main event on Chigusa's team against the new team of Aja & Ozaki. This was like a Nitro rush job, as the match had no build and they pretty much just tried their big spots on each other. Satomura gets a rare pin over Sugar to take the tournament. *3/4
Aja Kong & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Meiko Satomura. This was a real disappointment because it was just like all the other short Chigusa spotfests rather than being the special match it should have been. The work was good, but not even at the level you would expect as Chigusa wasn't particularly impressive. Satomura, working her 4th match of the night, still carried the load for her team. Satomura vs. Ozaki was the highlight. **1/2
5/18 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2: KAORU & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato. Good work. Strong performance by Yamada. ***
5/31 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Aja Kong & Mayumi Ozaki vs. KAORU & Toshiyo Yamada. A work match, but the execution wasn't close to the expected level. Very disappointing. *3/4
6/13 Niigata AAAW Tag Title Tournament Round 1: KAORU & Yamada vs. Satomura & Sonoko Kato. Surprisingly, and as it turns out luckily, this was better than KAORU & Yamada's match with Aja & Ozaki. Match never kicked into high gear. Satomura turns KAORU's Excalibur into a huracan rana for the upset win. **3/4
5/31 Korakuen Hall: Mizuki Ishii vs. Chigusa. Ishii's debut. Chigusa stiffed her with kicks and quickly pinned her. Ishii didn't really get a chance to show anything. *
5/18 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2: Toshie Uematsu vs. Ozaki. A brawl. They weren't always on the same page. Uematsu let Ozaki do too much at some points, but countered at the wrong time at other points. Ozaki wasn't in close to top form and Uematsu was pretty bad. **1/4
5/31 Korakuen Hall: Uematsu vs. Sugar Sato. A brawl. Sugar didn't look good, again. She was missing her spots. She looked good at the finish, but overall it was another disappointing performance by Sugar. *3/4
6/21 Club Citta Kawasaki: KAORU & Meiko Satomura vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Sonoko Kato. Slow start. These sprints are hurting because no one in GAEA has any bridge to their spots when they are working a longer match. Once they started doing their spots it turned into an excellent match. No real thought was put into the match and the selling was weak, but the work was excellent. Yamada looked sharp with Kawada-esque offense, and worked well with KAORU. ***3/4
6/27 Nagoya Shi Taiikukan: KAORU & Makie Numao vs. Satomura & Matsumoto. All hacked up in the editing room, but the main thing was heat between Satomura and KAORU.
6/28 Osaka IMP Hall: Chigusa Nagayo & Satomura vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Sugar Sato. Typical Chigusa sprint. Work and spots for 9 minutes. Ozaki made Chigusa look good, as always. Sugar was, unfortunately, the worst of the 4 again. Ozaki was, of course, the best. She wrestled smart given the circumstances, but there really needed to be more story here since it was Chigusa vs. Ozaki. Satomura vs. Sugar was a big step down from Ozaki vs. Chigusa. Everyone's execution was a little off. ***
6/27 Nagoya Shi Taiikukan AAAW Tag Title Tournament: Chigusa & Sakura Hirota vs. Aja Kong & Ozaki. Hirota was goofy as always. She kept wanting to use her lame uraken on Aja and Oz. Hirota took the match down a lot, as always. Aja having to sell Hirota's lame spots was hard to take. All the big spots, but it was a little sloppy. **1/2
6/14 Nagaoka: KAORU vs. Toshiyo Yamada. This wasn't a spotfest, so KAORU was lost early on. KAORU's execution was worse than normal. Match was devoid of build or psychology, and even the work was disappointing. **
Alpha Plus 7/19/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita & Saya Endo vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima. This was, unfortunately, joined in progress. The work was good, but no one fired up so it wasn't as good as it sounds on paper. Chikayo was featured and looked good, but Sugar once again didn't. Just about everything involving Sugar was slow and deliberate. Too much of her against Saya hurt the match, as did too little of Ozaki and Shimoda. **3/4
AAAW Singles Title Challenger Match: KAORU vs. Chigusa. The work was only decent. The flow, psychology, and build were poor. The selling was horrible, as they no sold left and right. Chigusa even popped right up after KAORU delivered her Excalibur finisher. Turd. *
AAAW Tag Title Challengers Tournament Semifinal: Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs. Toshie Uematsu & RIE. The main point of the match was dissention in the ranks of Satomura & Kato. They had all kinds of problems, including accidentally hitting each other and selfishness when it came to who would get the winning pin. Finish saw Satomura on the top rope, and Kato was going to whip RIE at her. However, Kato turned the Irish whip into a running three for the win. Satomura just stood on the top rope while Kato left the ring. *3/4
8/10/98 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan 2
Chigusa & Uematsu vs. Sugar & Nagashima. Chikayo was the star worker. Chigusa did a really good job of directing traffic, and was easily the second best worker. Uematsu & Sato did a lot of weak looking spots. **
AAAW Tag Titles Challenger Tournament Final: Aja Kong & Ozaki vs. Satomura & Kato. These teams didn't work together nearly as well as you'd think. The match never really got hot. Actually, Aja dictated most of the time, and it was slow paced. Ozaki, seemed a bit banged up and barely worked. When she was in the focus should have been on an ankle "injury" Satomura gave her in the middle of the match, but Kato didn't pick up on it beyond doing one submission to it. Kato & Satomura once again couldn't get through the match without fighting, and it cost them as Satomura walked right into Aja's uraken for the loss after she got done stomping on Kato. Thus, Aja & Ozaki won a title shot on 8/23. Aja was solid and Kato was better than Satomura. Very disappointing. **1/2
Performance features on women's wrestling personalities, including bizarre comic performances, some kind of yelling contest, singing, etc.
8/23 Tokyo Korakuen Hall AAAW Tag Titles: Sugar Sato & Nagashima vs. Aja Kong & Ozaki. This was a very exciting match, but it was more notable for the fact that the crowd was actually really into this. The problem was this had more than its share of blown spots, mainly from Sugar. Chikayo got her feet stuck in the ropes on a tope, but had the two highlights of the match, German suplexing Aja and giving her a footstomp off the top to the floor. Ozaki was really good with the exception of blowing one powerbomb spot with Chikayo. Aja & Ozaki took the titles. ***1/4
8/23 Tokyo Korakuen Hall AAAW Singles Title: Chigusa vs. Devil Masami. In the past, these two have had very good matches, but they are just too big and unathletic to have much of a match together at this point. This was a terrible match with no redeeming factors. It was slow-paced and very deliberate with a ton of no selling. Chigusa even no sold a nadare shiki no Northern Lights suplex. The comebacks sucked because they all seemed to be off no sell spots. Devil wrestled like Super Heel even though she wasn't billed as such. Easily the worst match these two have ever had together. 3/4*
8/23 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Satomura vs. Kato. These two usually have very good matches, but this wasn't one of them. As feared, the result of all these short spotfests is that these two didn't have the stamina to go this long or the experience in putting over the toll of the match. This actually got off to a hot start and was a good match for the first 25 minutes, but they just hit the wall at that point. The last 5 minutes were very weak with sloppily executed or blown spots because they both blew up (some of this was acting, but I don't buy that close to all of it was). Satomura's acting needed to be better as she seemed to remember to have to remember to sell, which meant it wound up looking pretty fake due to a slightly delayed reaction. The purpose of this match was to show that they were even, and that was accomplished, but this wasn't exactly conjuring up memories of the draws Toyota & Yamada had in 1991-92. **1/4
9/5 Kawagoe Pepe Hall: Bad Nurse Nakamura vs. Satomura. Bad Nurse was similarly "Great" to Muta, which meant she was truly BAD. Nurse used a fork to bloody Satomura, and Ran had to literally rip it out of Nurse's mouth to get it away from her. Boring brawl. *1/2
9/23 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Manami Toyota (AJW) vs. Satomura. This was typical of Toyota against younger wrestlers. Her work was good and she did all her spots, so the match was entertaining, but it didn't serve any purpose at all. Toyota once again didn't respect her younger opponent, so she didn't really put Satomura over and the outcome was never in doubt. We saw some good moves, but who cares? The point was for Satomura to challenge, yet all this match showed was she wasn't even remotely close to Toyota's level. **3/4
10/3/98 Sapporo Teison Hall: Sonoko Kato vs. Chigusa Nagayo. *
10/4/98 Takaiwa Shi Seinen (youth)Taiiku Center: Sonoko Kato vs. Maiko Matsumoto. *1/4
10/10/98 Osaka IMP Hall: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Maiko Matsumoto. 3/4*
10/11/98 Kyoto KBS Hall Premium League Bout: Toshie Uematsu vs. Sonoko Kato. **
11/12/98 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan 2 Premium League Match: Sugar Sato vs. Sonoko Kato
11/12/98 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan 2 Premium League Match: Chikayo Nagashima vs. Toshie Uematsu
11/23/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: KAORU & Rina Ishii vs. Meiko Satomura & Toshie Uematsu
10/29/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Mayumi Ozaki. ***3/4
11/23/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Aja Kong. ***1/2
12/11 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan 2
Meiko Satomura vs. Sonoko Kato. ***1/4
Sugar Sato vs. Chikayo Nagashima. *1/2
12/12 Akutoshitei Hamamatsu
KAORU & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Sonoko Kato & Toshie Uematsu. **
Sonoko Kato & Chikayo Nagashima & Toshie Uematsu vs. Maiko Matsumoto & Rina Ishii & Sakura Hirota. *1/2
12/27 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Chigusa & Sakura Hirota vs. Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima. *
KAORU vs. Toshie Uematsu. **
Aja Kong & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Meiko Satomura. ***3/4
2/3/99 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan 2
Sakura Hirota vs. KAORU. You know you are in for it when KAORU tries to carry a match, but a singles match won't be good no matter who Hirota is wrestling. Hirota tried to make you laugh at her during the first part of the match with a J.T. Smith spot blowing routine. Thus, even though she was getting a bunch of near falls in the second half, you couldn't believe she would actually get the win. 1/4*
Premium League Final: Toshie Uematsu vs. Meiko Satomura. The mental aspects were better, but the work wasn't as good as you'd expect. I thought the shoot style stuff they did was fairly decent, but they didn't work stiff enough, so that took away from the intensity level they were trying to show. The selling of the moves in this match at the time they happened was nothing special, but the carry over selling was very good. The last few minutes contained several near falls, and the finish was pretty much perfect because they were able to show how dead they were going into the exchange of blows.***1/4
2/11/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Sonoko Kato. A standard LCO match. It had the typical good work, good brawling, and good spots. LCO was once again pretty dominant. Even with Yamada involved, the outcome was never really in doubt. ***1/4
Lioness Asuka & Mayumi Ozaki vs. KAORU & Meiko Satomura. This match was fairly similar to the previous match, but the work was better and it wasn't the same old thing since these were new pairings. This was also a generally one-sided brawl with good work and spots, but not much build or psychology, especially since KAORU was doing dives and moonsaults right off the bat. Lioness & Ozaki were as good as you'd expect though, and Satomura looked really good wrestling them, so that made the match. ***1/2
Aja Kong & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Toshie Uematsu. 7 second "main event."
Note: All matches are league matches
10/10/98 Osaka IMP Hall
Meiko Satomura vs. Toshie Uematsu. Spot match. Work was good, and some of the near falls were credible. 4:14 shown
Sonoko Kato vs. Chikayo Nagashima. Nice sequences and counters here. The level of difficulty was fairly high, which led to some spots not being done as well as they could have. That said, everything flowed together really well and nothing was blown. 6:06 shown
10/11/98 Kyoto KBS Hall
Sonoko Kato vs. Toshie Uematsu. Match was decent, but the finish wasn't much. 6:18 shown
Meiko Satomura vs. Sugar Sato. This was supposed to be a technical match, which meant that Satomura had to do most of the work and really drag Sugar along. The match was dull, and it went 10 minutes too long. Sato worked the arm and the knee during this match, but had no focus in doing so. Actually, at one point Satomura was putting over her knee pretty heavily so Sato goes on offense and goes right after the arm. What's frustrating is this was clearly the worst match so far, so they decide to finally show the whole thing. *1/2
11/12/98 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2
Sonoko Kato vs. Sugar Sato. Kato did a much better job with Sugar than Satomura did, mainly because she let Sugar do her usual style match and stay within the little she can do. I don't blame Satomura for having ambition, but sometimes you have to chose the right opponent to be ambitious with. Sato was kind of sloppy here, but otherwise it was good and the fans were into it. Kato's performance blew away Sugar's, so of course that meant that Sugar won the match. 8:12 shown
Chikayo Nagashima vs. Toshie Uematsu. Uematsu was able to hang with Chikayo work wise, so it was a good match with some nice sequences. Again, some of the moves needed to be performed better. 7:53 shown
12/11/98 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2
Meiko Satomura vs. Sonoko Kato. These two always work well together, and this was no exception. Lots of counters here. Not many submissions, but the few they did were worked in well. 6:09 shown
Sugar Sato vs. Chikayo Nagashima. Chikayo looked really good in points, but the opposition was holding her back. Chikayo was trying to work sequences, but Sugar didn't take the time to figure out what to do or how to keep them going so most of them didn't go very far. Sato was pretty methodical here, and, as always, content to do the same couple of things over and over. She seemed to be hurt by Chikayo's diving footstomp, which I'm sure didn't help things any. Chikayo did some arm work to set up the finish, but Sato never really put it over, so it didn't have near the effect it should have. 8:51 shown. **
1/8/99 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2
Toshie Uematsu vs. Sugar Sato. The match didn't flow that well. Sato did a bunch of weak urakens. Uematsu didn't get much offense in, but was able to "shock" Sugar with a small package for the flash pin. 7:53 shown. *1/2
Chikayo Nagashima vs. Meiko Satomura. This started off slow, but kept getting a little better. They did a nice job of building the match around Satomura's Death Valley bomb. At one point they tried a cool spot where Chikayo turned the Death Valley bomb into a DDT, but it wasn't done perfectly. ***1/4
2/3/99 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan 2
Premium League Yushokettiesen: Meiko Satomura vs. Toshie Uematsu. Traditional style maatch based around submissions. They showed a lot of intensity and worked their holds well. There were some highspots, of course, but for the most part they were incorporated in a fairly believable manner. Satomura did a good job of putting over the toll of the match. Long, hard fought match that could have gone either way. A real final. ***1/2
LCO highlights
3/26/99 Chiba Koen Taiikukan: Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Meiko Satomura. LCO basically wreaked havoc here. Their illegal tactics allowed them to dominate most of the match. Good work, particularly from Shimoda & Yamada. ***1/2
3/20/99: Niigata Phase: Aja Kong & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato. Aja pretty much just stood in the same spot and kicked, punched or used objects. She sold virtually nothing. Satomura finally Death Valley bombed her, but Aja kicked out. The match was much better when Chikayo was in because it was back and forth and more exciting. ***
3/22/99: Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Lioness Asuka & Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato. Aja had to sell more here because she was the junior member of her team, but it was way too one-sided with Satomura & Kato never having a chance. The execution was good, but the work was disappointing since Lioness & Aja weren't exactly fired up for such "weak" opposition and wouldn't really give them anything. **
GAEA vs. Oz Academy Survival Single Match 3x3: Toshie Uematsu & RIE & Sakura Hirota vs. Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima & Kaori Nakayama
A) Sato vs. Uematsu. They didn't work that well together because Sugar just sucked. They did a lot of near falls that looked like the finish, but prior to this it was slow, sloppy, and boring. The near falls kind of saved it though. *1/2
B) Sato vs. RIE. Sugar has fallen so far that RIE had to carry her. RIE was on offense most of the time, and actually looked pretty good. They ran out of moves in 5 minutes though. The previous match was more dramatic, but RIE did a better job of carrying Sugar than Uematsu did. *1/2
C) Sato vs. Hirota. It was serious, but there was no quality here. DUD
D) Hirota vs. Nakayama. Hirota did virtually nothing offensively. Nakayama worked hard though, and Hirota wasn't too bad at taking her moves. *
E) Hirota vs. Nagashima. Chikayo did an excellent job here. The wrestlers that were already eliminated getting involved also helped save the match. Hirota once again played the role of being totally overmatched, but her luck finally ran out, as she wasn't able to fall into a flash pin this time. **
GAEA vs. Las Cachorras Tag Match : KAORU & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita. This was the typical GAEA spotfest, except it was bloody and 4 times as long. There was really no build, pacing, or structuring. However, they did ever move in their arsenal at least once, and there were some memorable spots like KAORU doing a moonsault off the lighting rig, plus seemingly a thousand near falls. Without telling a story of figuring out how to use the spots though, they lost their effect and it got monotonous. That said, considering GAEA, opposition, and 38 minutes, LCO deserve a lot of credit for having this good a match. ***3/4
GAEA vs. SSU Tag Match: Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs. Aja Kong & Mayumi Ozaki. This was very similar in story to the LCO vs. Hamada & AKINO match from 12/11/99. Satomura & Kato were very much overmatched against the veteran team, but they were going to fight until the end no matter how much punishment they had to absorb. One advantage this match had over the LCO vs. Hamada & AKINO match was that they did a consistently great job of playing up the rivalry. Aja & Ozaki dominated the match, but they did it in a way that you could tell they were taking exceptional pleasure in hurting Satomura & Kato. The first part of the match saw them take out Kato's bad knee, but when she finally tagged out the story shifted to Satomura trying to take Aja out with her Death Valley bomb. ****
Special Single Match: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Lioness Asuka. Much different than their 80's matches. It was still spot oriented, but the pace was much slower and many of the spots involved gimmicks. Lioness was pretty much the whole match, with Chigusa not really adding anything and basically just being along for the ride. I was surprised at how dominant Lioness was considering she was winning control of the company. I was disappointed at how little drama it had, all things considered. **1/2
*Regular price + $2.50 for extended length tape so the whole show can be recorded on SP*
2/3/99 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2
Toshiyo Yamada & Makie Numao vs. Lioness Asuka & Sugar Sato. 4:15 shown
2/11/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Undercard highlights
Aja Kong & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Toshie Uematsu. Complete 7 second match
2/28/99 Kanagawa Club Citta Kawasaki
Highlights
3/20/99 Niigata Phase
Aja Kong & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato. 4:53 shown
3/22/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Etsuko Mita & Chikayo Nagashima vs. KAORU & Makie Numao. 3:34 shown
Lioness Asuka & Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato. 3:45 shown
Mayumi Ozaki & Mima Shimoda vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Toshiyo Yamada. 0:59 shown
4/4/99 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan
GAEA vs. Oz Academy Survival Single Match 3x3: Toshie Uematsu & RIE & Sakura Hirota vs. Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima & Kaori Nakayama. 18:40 shown
GAEA vs. Las Cachorras Tag Match : KAORU & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita. This was the typical GAEA spotfest, except it was bloody and 4 times as long. There was really no build, pacing, or structuring. However, they did ever move in their arsenal at least once, and there were some memorable spots like KAORU doing a moonsault off the lighting rig, plus seemingly a thousand near falls. Without telling a story of figuring out how to use the spots though, they lost their effect and it got monotonous. That said, considering GAEA, opposition, and 38 minutes, LCO deserve a lot of credit for having this good a match. 13:27 shown. ***3/4
GAEA vs. SSU Tag Match: Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs. Aja Kong & Mayumi Ozaki. This was very similar in story to the LCO vs. Hamada & AKINO match from 12/11/99. Satomura & Kato were very much overmatched against the veteran team, but they were going to fight until the end no matter how much punishment they had to absorb. One advantage this match had over the LCO vs. Hamada & AKINO match was that they did a consistently great job of playing up the rivalry. Aja & Ozaki dominated the match, but they did it in a way that you could tell they were taking exceptional pleasure in hurting Satomura & Kato. The first part of the match saw them take out Kato's bad knee, but when she finally tagged out the story shifted to Satomura trying to take Aja out with her Death Valley bomb. ****
Special Single Match: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Lioness Asuka. Much different than their 80's matches. It was still spot oriented, but the pace was much slower and many of the spots involved gimmicks. Lioness was pretty much the whole match, with Chigusa not really adding anything and basically just being along for the ride. I was surprised at how dominant Lioness was considering she was winning control of the company. I was disappointed at how little drama it had, all things considered. **1/2
*I have a limited number of additional 1st Gen SP copies available for $20 or $25.50 COOP*
4/25/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Chigusa Nagayo vs. Kaori Nakayama. Lioness made Chigusa a prelim wrestler for this show, but that just gave Chigusa the night off, as Kaori was only able to last a whopping 39 seconds.
Lioness Asuka vs. Sonoko Kato. Sato helped Lioness out right away and they took Kato out in 32 seconds. Even with it being 2-1, Kato should have lasted much longer as she usually takes tons of punishment, but today she took a few chair shots and a stuff Ligerbomb.
KAORU & Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs. Lioness Asuka & Mayumi Ozaki & Mima Shimoda. KAORU was goofy as always, but her work was good. Unfortunately, Satomura & Kato weren't put over, so it was mainly about how long KAORU's team could keep saving each other to hang on. Shimoda was as good as you'd expect, but aside from her and KAORU it wasn't nearly as good as it sounded on paper. **1/2
5/4 Nagoya Nakamura Sports Center
Lioness Asuka vs. Sonoko Kato. Kato did much better here, although without Satomura's help she still wouldn't have had a chance. After some double teaming Kato got a few near finishes, and it was more exciting from there as Lioness was committed to putting Kato away, but Kato kept kicking out. 10:42 shown. Good match.
Toshiyo Yamada & Toshie Uematsu & Sakura Hirota vs. Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita & Chikayo Nagashima. Good match due to LCO and Yamada. Hirota wasn't really annoying here because her comedy involved actual wrestling done right. ***
5/9/99 Kawagoe Pepe Hall
Battle Royal. Hirota was the life of the match. She was stuck with all the SSU. Although they ganged up on her, they kept double crossing each other and pinning one of their "teammates" instead of pinning Hirota. The finish was ridiculously pathetic with Hirota "not being able to stop" urakening, just spinning around forever until she collapsed. It was a fun match overall that never had the lame brawling you usually see in a battle royal. **
Mima Shimoda & Sugar Sato vs. Meiko Satomura & Toshie Uematsu. Sato wasn't much, but the others were good enough. Not a great effort, but it was servicable. **1/4
7/3/99 Act City Hamamatsu: Lioness Asuka vs. Sakura Hirota. The match started off with Hirota tricking Lioness by offering her flowers, but hitting her with them when she got close enough. Later on, there was a table set up in the corner and Hirota was on Lioness' back holding her arms, so Lioness would jerk forward, which would cause Hirota to headbutt the table. 1:13 shown
7/4/99 Osaka IMP Hall: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Sakura Hirota Hirota kneeled in the corner and talked on a walkie talkie at the beginning of the match until Ozaki went over and kicked her.
7/18/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Kaori Nakayama vs. Super Heel Sakura Hirota. Hirota brought a broom to the ring in place of the Super Heel rod. She sold a low blow huge, but it was all an act so she could uraken Kaori. However, the uraken either missed or did no damage because Kaori went right into a small package for the win. 4:26 shown
Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs. Toshie Uematsu & RIE. Frantic action. Uematsu was in during the whole portion that aired, so it was real good. 4:51 shown
Lioness Asuka & Mima Shimoda vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Toshiyo Yamada. Brawling early. Chigusa mainly got beat on. She bled. Turned into a spot match. Either way, nothing they did meant much and the fans weren't as into it as you'd think, so there wasn't much drama even though there was a lot of saves. Lioness and Yamada didn't work together as well as you'd expect, which hurt the match a lot since Chigusa isn't exactly going to pick up the slack. **1/2
7/4/99: Chikayo Nagashima vs. Toshie Uematsu. Chikayo worked over the arm, including a diving footstomp and a missile kick. These two worked really well together, and were both very animated in the ring. Very intense match. 7:09 shown. ***1/2 range
7/18/99 AAAW Tag Senshuken: Aja Kong & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima. Sato, and to a greater extent Nagashima, were first able to show resilience by withstanding a lot of punishment. They slowly gained momentum, setting up a section where both teams got near falls that looked like the finish, and finally scored the highly improbable upset. This match was similar to the Aja & Ozaki vs. Satomura & Kato match from 4/4/99, but it lacked the focused storyline and the intensity that Aja vs. Satomura had. Although there wasn't a more personalized story to the match, after being totally dominated early one, the basic underdog has a chance storyline slowly went into effect, and eventually the fans were reacting to and believing in Sato & Nagashima. Aside from a few blown spots, the main reason the match as a whole was not as good is that Sugar, although this was one of her better performances of the year, is not in the same stratosphere as Sonoko. That said, the match was fulfilling and is definitely one to check out if you like GAEA. Read Review. ***1/2
8/15/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Lioness Asuka vs. Sonoko Kato. This was one of those master vs. potential student matches where the master proves dominance and then takes the kid under their wing. The extent to which Lioness dominated Kato was ridiculous. Satomura was pissed at her partner's defection. 6:05 shown
Feature on Hirota's cosplay
8/22/99 Tokyo Allen Hall: Mayumi Ozaki & Sugar Sato vs. Akira Hokuto & Chikayo Nagashima. Sato actually did a plancha. 3:47 shown
8/29/99 Osaka IMP Hall: Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Lioness Asuka & Sonoko Kato. 3:50 shown
8/15/99: Akira Hokuto & Aja Kong & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Toshiyo Yamada & Meiko Satomura. Chigusa was trying to get something out of the spots today. This wasn't the best wrestling you'll ever see, but they did play up the rivalry well. They got into the spots around the 10 minute mark, with Ozaki, Yamada, & Satomura stepping up. Satomura vs. Aja was featured, and this was the best part of the match because they worked really well together and Satomura was even more fired up than usual. This booking was abysmal because on the last "big" show before the title match in Yokohama, the challenger that was sorely lacking credibility put the champion over convincingly. Satomura even stayed down almost "unconscious" for the whole time Aja was cutting a promo on her. She only got up to her knees when Aja pulled her by the hair then threw her down again like a piece of trash. ***1/2
8/29/99: Osaka IMP Hall: Akira Hokuto & Aja Kong vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Meiko Satomura. This was even worse booking than the previous match because, based on what was shown, Satomura didn't get any offense in before Aja made her look like a jobber. 4:22 shown
Chigusa vs. Lioness feature
4/25/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Chigusa Nagayo vs. Kaori Nakayama. Complete 35 second match
KAORU & Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs. Lioness Asuka & Mayumi Ozaki & Mima Shimoda. 2:28 shown
5/16/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
AAAW Single Senshuken:Chigusa Nagayo vs. Aja Kong. Slow-paced match, but pretty high impact. Lots of heat and real good execution. The no selling portion was bizarre because a minute later they were both acting like they dead, and two minutes later it was over. There were some surprisingly nice spots and good near falls, but there just wasn't enough to the match to make it live up to the names involved. ***
5/23/99 Osaka IMP Hall
Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato & Sakura Hirota vs. Lioness Asuka & Chikayo. Lots of Satomura & Kato vs. Chikayo, so it was good. 5:38 shown
6/20/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Chigusa Nagayo vs. Etsuko Mita. The complete 19 second marathon
7/18/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
AAAW Tag Senshuken: Aja Kong & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima. Sato, and to a greater extent Nagashima, were first able to show resilience by withstanding a lot of punishment. They slowly gained momentum, setting up a section where both teams got near falls that looked like the finish, and finally scored the highly improbable upset. This match was similar to the Aja & Ozaki vs. Satomura & Kato match from 4/4/99, but it lacked the focused storyline and the intensity that Aja vs. Satomura had. Although there wasn't a more personalized story to the match, after being totally dominated early one, the basic underdog has a chance storyline slowly went into effect, and eventually the fans were reacting to and believing in Sato & Nagashima. Aside from a few blown spots, the main reason the match as a whole was not as good is that Sugar, although this was one of her better performances of the year, is not in the same stratosphere as Sonoko. That said, the match was fulfilling and is definitely one to check out if you like GAEA. Read Review. ***1/2
8/15/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Lioness Asuka vs. Sonoko Kato. This match seemed much better now that we saw more of it. It wasn't so steeped in Lioness' favor as it seemed on TV. Kato at least had one good run whwere she got a few near falls, and Lioness "had to" spew mist in Kato's eyes to regain the advantage and take her out. Kato was "virtually unconscious" in the last few minutes, but she kept dragging herself up.
Akira Hokuto & Aja Kong & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Toshiyo Yamada & Meiko Satomura. Chigusa was trying to get something out of the spots today. This wasn't the best wrestling you'll ever see, but they did play up the rivalry well. They got into the spots around the 10 minute mark, with Ozaki, Yamada, & Satomura stepping up. Satomura vs. Aja was featured, and this was the best part of the match because they worked really well together and Satomura was even more fired up than usual. This booking was abysmal because on the last "big" show before the title match in Yokohama, the challenger that was sorely lacking credibility put the champion over convincingly. Satomura even stayed down almost "unconscious" for the whole time Aja was cutting a promo on her. She only got up to her knees when Aja pulled her by the hair then threw her down again like a piece of trash. ***1/2
Oz Academy 8/29/99 Osaka IMP Hall
Mayumi Ozaki & Aja Kong & Sugar Sato vs. Lioness Asuka & Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita. Helter skelter match with heavy use of chairs and tables. Good moves, but these women should be above the ECW TV match level of lets do everything we know in 9 minutes because we don't want people to get bored and flip the channel. Ozaki's knee wasn't as much of a factor against her and she was in and out, so she looked better here. **1/2
*I have a limited number of additional 1st Gen SP copies available for $20 or $25.50 COOP*
Sonoko Kato vs. Toshie Uematsu. Good work and action. A big sloppy, but at least the level of difficulty was fairly high. The match could have went either way, but I was kind of surprised and disappointed that it ended when it did. There was certainly significance in it ending with one of Lioness' moves, but kind of weird that it was one that Lioness never wins with. **3/4
Kaori Nakayama vs. RIE. RIE dominated with brawling tactics and weapon use. Kaori bled. Execution was better than expected, but it was dull because it was a squash where little talent was posessed or displayed. 4:35 shown.
Super Heel Sakura Hirota vs. Devil Masami. Hirota's opponent was a mystery, so she came out dressed up like Super Heel only to find out Devil was her opponent. This match had a ton of stalling disguised as comedy. They hardly even touched during the first 6 minutes. DUD
Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita. Chaotic quadruple juice brawl. I don't know what happened here, but it was like they forgot what made them good. I mean, this was the kind of brawl I'd expect if it was Ganstas vs. Public Enemy. Gimmick spot after gimmick spot with the few series of 2 to three wrestling moves seemingly only there to set up some kind of interference. The execution wasn't as good as expected, and there was virtually no selling at all. This was literally the worst match these four could possibly have together. Mindless indy level violence. *1/2
AAAW Tag Senshukenjiai: Suger Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs. KAORU & Toshiyo Yamada. Exciting match. KAORU did a diving attack off the lighting rig. Only half was shown but it seemed good since Sato, who pretty much only used her uraken, was hidden.
AAAW Single Senshukenjiai: Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura. Read Review. ****1/2
Revenge Match: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Lioness Asuka. This match got off to a hot start. Chigusa came out with a vengeance, attacking Lioness before the bell when streamers were flying everywhere. Chigusa followed with a footstomp off the apron when Lioness was buried under the streamers. Lioness came back, heaving Chigusa off the runway onto a table then piledriving Chigusa through it. They climbed up the lighting rig, but Chigusa kicked Lioness off. A little after this, the match lost it's brawling identity, as they did about 10 minutes of fairly boring submission oriented wrestling in the ring. After seeing the intensity and viciousness of the early offense, I couldn't get into them laying around or doing some low level spots. The crowd heat died during this portion, so it wasn't like I was the only one that was bored. Finally, they went outside and started cracking each other with chairs then returned to the ring where they went to their bigger moves. Although they never regained the initial intensity, the last several minutes were the quality high impact wrestling we've come to expect from Lioness. Chigusa bled after being powerbombed on the runway and off it. The execution was strong, but the match lacked identity. Even though it was the match that sold all the tickets, it didn't have nearly as much heat as the previous match, at least partly because it couldn't follow it. **3/4
HHH Senshukenjiai: Sakura Hirota vs. Dynamite Kansai. The expected slaughter. The highlight was Hirota tickling Kansai's nose with a feather then trying to hit her with it, but Kansai kicked her arm. Hirota tried a windsprint lariat, but tripped before she reached. 5:31 shown
RIE vs. Saika Takeuchi. RIE used her heel tactics. Takeuchi showed heart by fighting hard and continually coming back. Takeuchi eventually scored the upset win, which was important even though RIE is not exactly a legend because this was the biggest show in company history and many of the fans hadn't seen her before. 4:45 shown
Toshiyo Yamada vs. Kyoko Inoue. A lot better than the last time they wrestled in AJW, but far from their best. These two know each other well and were able to adapt to the changes they've made in their styles since the days when they wrestled regularly. For Yamada, this included wearing open hand shooting gloves and punching with them often. Yamada was very into the match, showing a level of intensity and fire we've rarely seen from her since the first quarter of 1995. She was the better of the two. Good match. 9:48 shown
AAAW Tag Senshukenjiai: Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Toshie Uematsu & The Bloody. Good action. The execution wasn't perfect, but they never slowed down and always did pretty good moves. Bloody & Nagashima made the match, but particularly Bloody since she had the unenviable task of trying to make Sato look decent. Cool finish where Bloody tried to turn Sato's Ligerbomb into a huracanrana, but Chikayo dropkicked Bloody in the face then Sugar did the Ligerbomb. 7:42 shown
Free Weapon Match AAAW Single Next Challenger Decision Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. KAORU. I'd like to be able to recommend all of Ozaki's brawls, but this was the typical illogical clusterfuck we always get from KAORU. Too many gimmick spots and too much time wasted. There were some nice spots like KAORU putting Ozaki through tables with both a senton off a ladder on the ramp and a senton off the top. Ozaki did a funny spot where she kept breaking chairs over KAORU's head and leaving them hanging by KAORU's neck. She powerbombed KAORU on a garbage can then tried to suffocate her with a plastic bag that was big enough to go over KAORU's whole body. While KAORU was in the bag, Ozaki Ligerbombed KAORU on a pile of chairs but KAORU's second Jenn Yukari made the save. 28 minutes was way too long for this mindless style. **1/4
AAAW Single Senshukenjiai: Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura. This match doesn't get the credit it deserves. Certainly, it's worse than their 9/15/99 match, but clearly it's one of the top 5 matches in company history. Today's match was shorter and faster paced than their previous. The psychology was still excellent. Satomura tried to control Aja, but Aja was using her power to throw Meiko around. Satomura was effective countering Aja and using her speed. She tried to use arm submissions as often as she could to neutralize the uraken. Aja was beating Satomura up, but Satomura isn't afraid to be stiff as well. Once again, Aja did a great job of guiding Satomura, who followed Aja well. What made this match worse is Satomura didn't make anyone believe she was winning. It just didn't have the drama, which not only meant it wasn't as good, but also that it did far less for Satomura. Although the match they did was excellent, you just have to scratch your head at why this match came after the previous one when you consider the point of the match should be Satomura's growth and when you hold them in comparison this did a lot more to send her careening in the wrong direction. ****
Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs. Devil Masami & Akira Hokuto. Work and spots as usual, but this time they worked harder and did it for twice as long. There was definitely more brawling than usual, with Lioness bleeding early. Nice teamwork by both teams. In particular, Crush 2000 had a new spot where Lioness held Hokuto up for her high angle powerbomb and Chigusa came off the top with a reverse neckbreaker. Devil was the farthest above her typical level. Unfortunately, simply trying harder didn't cut it. Although it was a good match, there was nothing about this match (unless you count the ring entraces) that made it feel like it was the main event of a major show. **3/4
*Regular price + $2.50 for extended length tape so the whole show can be recorded on SP*
1/16 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Chigusa Nagayo vs. KAORU
Lioness Asuka & Aja Kong vs. Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki
2/13 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Toshiyo Yamada vs. Mayumi Ozaki
AAAW Tag Senshukenjiai: Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Lioness Asuka & Sonoko Kato
AAAW Single Senshukenjiai: Aja Kong vs. KAORU
3/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Chigusa Nagayo & Meiko Satomura vs. Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki
3/20 Osaka IMP Hall: Lioness Asuka & KAORU vs. Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki
4/8 Honkawagoe Pepe Hall
Chigusa Nagayo vs. Chikayo Nagashima
Meiko Satomura & Sakura Hirota vs. Lioness Asuka & Sonoko Kato
4/16 Tokyo Zepp Tokyo Free Weapon Match: Sugar Sato vs. KAORU. This was either the highlight or lowlight of Oz #4 depending on whether you think those TLC matches are great or a contrived piece of trash. KAORU did the best she could, using the props to do a bunch of athletic stunts. She did a moonsault press with half a table, a moonsault attack off the stage, a senton off the top of a ladder in the ring to put Sato through a table on the floor, and a moonsault off the top of the ladder that didn't wind up working right. Both bled. Sato was even more horrible than usual, plodding around and lamely swinging or throwing objects. She put a barrel over KAORU and touched it with a mallet a few times. Of course, the match had no believability and was the king of contrived anyway. Both bled. *1/4
4/23 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Chigusa Nagayo & Toshie Uematsu vs. Devil Masami & Chikayo Nagashima
Sakura Hirota vs. Mayumi Ozaki
5/14 Tokyo Ariake Coliseum
HHH Senshukenjiai: Sakura Hirota vs. Dynamite Kansai. The expected slaughter. The highlight was Hirota tickling Kansai's nose with a feather then trying to hit her with it, but Kansai kicked her arm. Hirota tried a windsprint lariat, but tripped before she reached.
RIE vs. Saika Takeuchi. RIE used her heel tactics. Takeuchi showed heart by fighting hard and continually coming back. Takeuchi eventually scored the upset win, which was important even though RIE is not exactly a legend because this was the biggest show in company history and many of the fans hadn't seen her before.
Toshiyo Yamada vs. Kyoko Inoue. A lot better than the last time they wrestled in AJW, but far from their best. These two know each other well and were able to adapt to the changes they've made in their styles since the days when they wrestled regularly. For Yamada, this included wearing open hand shooting gloves and punching with them often. Yamada was very into the match, showing a level of intensity and fire we've rarely seen from her since the first quarter of 1995. She was the better of the two. Good match.
AAAW Tag Senshukenjiai: Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Toshie Uematsu & The Bloody. Good action. The execution wasn't perfect, but they never slowed down and always did pretty good moves. Bloody & Nagashima made the match, but particularly Bloody since she had the unenviable task of trying to make Sato look decent. Cool finish where Bloody tried to turn Sato's Ligerbomb into a huracanrana, but Chikayo dropkicked Bloody in the face then Sugar did the Ligerbomb.
Free Weapon Match AAAW Single Next Challenger Decision Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. KAORU. I'd like to be able to recommend all of Ozaki's brawls, but this was the typical illogical clusterfuck we always get from KAORU. Too many gimmick spots and too much time wasted. There were some nice spots like KAORU putting Ozaki through tables with both a senton off a ladder on the ramp and a senton off the top. Ozaki did a funny spot where she kept breaking chairs over KAORU's head and leaving them hanging by KAORU's neck. She powerbombed KAORU on a garbage can then tried to suffocate her with a plastic bag that was big enough to go over KAORU's whole body. While KAORU was in the bag, Ozaki Ligerbombed KAORU on a pile of chairs but KAORU's second Jenn Yukari made the save. 28 minutes was way too long for this mindless style. **1/4
AAAW Single Senshukenjiai: Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura. This match doesn't get the credit it deserves. Certainly, it's worse than their 9/15/99 match, but clearly it's one of the top 5 matches in company history. Today's match was shorter and faster paced than their previous. The psychology was still excellent. Satomura tried to control Aja, but Aja was using her power to throw Meiko around. Satomura was effective countering Aja and using her speed. She tried to use arm submissions as often as she could to neutralize the uraken. Aja was beating Satomura up, but Satomura isn't afraid to be stiff as well. Once again, Aja did a great job of guiding Satomura, who followed Aja well. What made this match worse is Satomura didn't make anyone believe she was winning. It just didn't have the drama, which not only meant it wasn't as good, but also that it did far less for Satomura. Although the match they did was excellent, you just have to scratch your head at why this match came after the previous one when you consider the point of the match should be Satomura's growth and when you hold them in comparison this did a lot more to send her careening in the wrong direction. ****
Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs. Devil Masami & Akira Hokuto. Work and spots as usual, but this time they worked harder and did it for twice as long. There was definitely more brawling than usual, with Lioness bleeding early. Nice teamwork by both teams. In particular, Crush 2000 had a new spot where Lioness held Hokuto up for her high angle powerbomb and Chigusa came off the top with a reverse neckbreaker. Devil was the farthest above her typical level. Unfortunately, simply trying harder didn't cut it. Although it was a good match, there was nothing about this match (unless you count the ring entraces) that made it feel like it was the main event of a major show. **3/4
6/25 Osaka IMP Hall: Lioness Asuka & Meiko Satomura & Sugar Sato vs. Devil Masami & Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada. 3:26 of 11:22
7/16 Osaka IMP Hall: Lioness Asuka & Meiko Satomura vs. Devil Masami & Toshiyo Yamada. Focus was on Satomura vs. Yamada since Yamada submitted Meiko in the previous match. Okay, but nothing special. 6:24 of 9:31.
Meiko Satomura & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Devil Masami & Akira Hokuto. Satomura & Chikayo were fast; Devil & Hokuto were slow. I'm not sure it was much of a mix, and I'm sure these teams didn't work well together, but I suppose Satomura & Chikayo did enough to make it passable. The only thing really notable was the heat, which was tremendous though most of it seemed to be added in post production. Satomura Death Valley bombed Devil after the match, but Hokuto then left both opponents laying. 11:33. **
Toshie Uematsu vs. Toshiyo Yamada. Yamada was at her current best here in carrying Uematsu. Brief but exciting and well executed. 4:21 of 7:18.
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Sugar Sato. Sato was bleeding when they picked up the action. Good sequences and counters considering Sugar. Sugar got her moves in but lost easily. Chikayo stood up for Sugar after the match, leading to her match with Ozaki that was the standout of the big 9/15 show. 4:22 of 8:09.
HHH Single Senshukenjiai: Sakura Hirota vs. Saika Takeuchi. Considering their ability, this was good. They wrestled straight and, amazingly, with intensity. 2:42 of 6:33.
Lioness Asuka vs. KAORU. Though a similar minimal selling brawl, this was much better than the DUD they had a year later. This actually had some sequences that made sense and added to something of a collective whole. For instance, they fought through the crowd with chairs initially, but this sequence had purpose because Lioness' knee was tied in the security rail and KAORU went to town on it with the chair. When they returned to the ring, KAORU tried to continue the knee attack, but Lioness decided it made sense for her to go on offense. Shockingly, I can't fault KAORU much for this match because Lioness set the moronic predicent there, and she was the one that needed to be selling due to her early injury. Lioness' quick comebacks were really annoying here, with her again being more infuriating than KAORU. The highlight was probably when KAORU did a huracanrana off the apron onto chairs then put Lioness through a table with a diving senton to the floor. They did some sweet counters sequences that featured KAORU's athleticism like landing on her feet for the towerhacker bomb then turning Lioness' high kick into an ura hizajujigatame. There was a huge screw up though when KAORU was supposed to turn the towerhacker bomb into a huracanrana, but she never came close to hooking Lioness' neck. Lioness jumped over and KAORU faked a cradle for a 2 3/4 count, which was one of the key near falls of the match. It was one of the more watchable fundamentally poor matches because it was generally well executed and had lots of nice spots, but no selling still equals no drama and that killed the match since they did so many near falls without allowing one to believe or care less. 17:43. **1/2
Chigusa Nagayo & Sonoko Kato vs. Aja Kong & Dynamite Kansai. Kato was the standout here. She belonged in the main event not only from a wrestling standpoint, but because her fire and charisma added a lot to the excitement and interest level. Her stuff with Aja was particularly good, playing off the gap in their experience levels. Kato wound up bailing Chigusa out and taking both veterans on 1-2 for a while. As usual it was short with screw ups and the usual annoyances like Chigusa no selling a Death Valley bomb, but in this case it was also well booked and exciting. 8:47. ***
Saika Takeuchi vs. Saya Endo. Takeuchi showed some good offense, but then went down from a couple of moves. 3:30 shown
HHH (Hirota Henachoco Handmade) Senshukenjiai: Police vs. Sakura Hirota. Hirota cut an Onita-like promo in the back before coming out, with a pan falling on her head in the midst. She was dressed up as some ridiculous superhero. Aside from one or two nice sequences, there wasn't a high level of difficulty, but everything was done at least adequately. Basically the match was nothing spectacular, but there wasn't really anything wrong with it either. **
Free Weapon Match: Sugar Sato vs. KAORU. KAORU brought a chain and a ladder, while Sato hauled a barrel that was really too big and clumsy to utilize well. This match was so incredibly contrived. It was nothing but meaningless, totally illogical gimmick spots that took a year and a day to set up. This contained the I'll climp up a ladder so you can throw me off brand of "logic." What made things worse is Sugar is so slow she practically moves in reverse, and KAORU does nothing to make it look like she's dragging Sugar along, so you have KAORU standing there holding Sugar's hair while Sugar moves into the spot at snail speed. KAORU used the lighting rid for both a moonsault and a senton through a table, but those were about the only positives. There was a great stunt where KAORU put a ladder on Sugar, who was on the runway, then gave her a moonsault with a piece of a table, but what damage does a piece of wood hitting a ladder do to Sugar? 1/2*
Toshie Uematsu vs. Toshiyo Yamada. These two are capable of doing a lot of nice sequences, but instead they just wanted to strike. That's fine for Yamada because her kicks and elbows are top notch, but it doesn't come natural for Uematsu and that was a big reason that the execution wasn't particularly impressive. An adequate match, but they are capable of so much better. **
Sonoko Kato vs. Akira Hokuto. They seemed into it and the match was intense, but they didn't really do anything and then it ended. Fans went nuts for the upset, but the match itself was hardly memorable.
Meiko Satomura vs. Devil Masami. Devil was actually very professional during a match that she was losing. She is slow and can't bump anymore, but when she wants to be she's still a smart wrestler that does the offense she uses well, and today she wanted to be. This was not a glamorous match, but it was logically wrestled. Devil gave Satomura move offense than you'd believe given the outcome, which made it a lot more dramatic when Meiko was coming close because for once it was believable that the mighty Devil could lose. Satomura mainly focused on Devil's arm, but wound up leaving it near the end. These two worked well together because Devil used psychology again, and Satomura has the ability to make up for or work around Devil's lack of athleticism and mobility. I had a really good feeling about this match, but the post match ruined it for me because Devil was laughing, physically dominating Satomura, not going up for the Death Valley bomb to expose the work, and then laying Satomura out with her firevalley. Satomura eventually staggered up, but she just stared at Devil, which didn't exactly do anything to regain what she just lost. ***1/4
Chikayo Nagashima vs. Mayumi Ozaki. This was the most exciting match of the series. They always used big moves, but it was paced well and the selling was good enough considering the lack of time. They needed more time to really develop the match though because, although it was fairly heated and intense, the only story they had was Chikayo using some of Ozaki's own moves on her, but it wasn't developed enough to make the finish work to the extent that it should have. Ozaki showed she was pissed during the post match, but this was after Chikayo posed over her, and done in a way where it not only set up another match, but, if anything, added more power to Chikayo's win. ***1/2
Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs. Aja Kong & Dynamite Kansai. Crush 2000 had a cool entrance where there were dollars being blown around them. Aside from the pre match and the heat, there was nothing that would make you think this was the second biggest match of the year. It was a good match, but it could just as well have been the typical Korakuen main event. Chigusa was the only one that raised her game, but she was mainly paired with Kansai, who has nothing left and looks like she's in slow motion, so it still wasn't that good when she was in the ring. Lioness vs. Aja was much better, but they were not as good as they usually are, and certainly didn't approach the greatness that you'd think they'd be capable of delivering when programmed together. The match was a little longer than usual, but it was the typical one-dimensional fast-paced (considering the size of the women involved) spot match. Everyone used their big moves and finishers, and there were a lot of saves, so it seemed like a better match than it really was because the large crowd was into it. ***1/4
9/17 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
High Spot 600 Rule: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Toshie Uematsu. Just to make sure no one thought Uematsu surpassed Yamada...0:21.
High Spot 600 Rule: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chikayo Nagashima. All these rematches under spotfest rules were pretty much garbage. On one hand, this was the best of the bunch because at least it was well executed. On the other hand, this was the most frustrating because their match two days earlier was very good. Instead of improving upon that, they just rolled out a bunch of fisherman busters and the like without selling any of them. 3:58.
High Spot 600 Rule: KAORU vs. Sugar Sato. This was the worst of the bunch, really terrible, because Sugar was awful. KAORU actually had to slow up in the midst of the move she was attempting because Sugar was too slow to get into the right position. 1:27.
High Spot 600 Rule: Dynamite Kansai vs. Chigusa Nagayo. Since neither match had enough time to be good, they would have been better off letting Lioness carry Dynasaur and Aja carry Chigusa. Instead, we get weak setup and work that was far from smooth. 4:58.
High Spot 600 Rule: Devil Masami vs. Meiko Satomura. This wasn't as short, and the additional time allowed for some actual drama. Satomura's kicks were light, but this was generally quality and had by far the most clever finish on the show. 7:01. **
High Spot 600 Rule: Lioness Asuka vs. Aja Kong. The only match of this bunch that might have been good, so it was the only one they edited. 4:40 of 10:00.
High Spot 600 Rule: Akira Hokuto vs. Sonoko Kato. This was even more of a waste than Yamada vs. Uematsu because this was a non-competitive nothing of a main event rather than opener. 1:01.
9/30 Honkawagoe Pepe Hall
Meiko Satomura vs. Saika Takeuchi. Solid match that showcased Satomura's ability to do the more realistic "shoot" moves. Takeuchi isn't able to compete yet, but she fought hard and took a beating. 6:02 of 15:32.
Amazingly, there was a funny camp segment involving Hirota. Soon after Uematsu won her worthless HHH title, she decided it was for the dogs, literally. She put it around her little dogs body and let it run off with the belt. Hirota tried to get it from the dog, but the group of poodles (appeared and) ran her off. Later, she caught up to the one (the others disappeared) with the belt by itself, but Takeuchi took the belt off the dog and tossed it in the back of a truck (so Hirota hopped on and became the 22nd HHH champ). Okay, the scenario wasn't played out with the slightest bit of logic and Hirota is about the 2nd worst overactor next to Mortimer Plumtree, but for Hirota this was "entertainment".
10/22 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
HHH Senshukenjiai: Sakura Hirota vs. Sonoko Kato. Hirota was dressed up in what I'll call a Kato suit. One of those doomed Hirota matches where her opponent tries to wrestle straight, but she's in full "comedy" mode. Hirota actually did a nice rolling takedown into a backbridge, but otherwise this was pretty awful. 8:23. DUD.
Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Toshie Uematsu. Typical GAEA sprint except with more brawling. Uematsu looked good and the others were adequate. There were a few good moments early, but the match never built on them or even got any better. 12:18. **
Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima. Pretty much the Chikayo Nagashima show. Her stuff against both opponents was very good. She also kept Sato out of the ring most of the time, and assured her stuff was passable by coming in and doing the parts of the double teams that required ability or even using Sato's body as a prop. The match built up crowd heat because it was good and both teams had good chances to win. 12:12. ***1/4
11/3 Tokyo Korakuen Hall AAAW Tag Next Challenger Tag Tournament 1st Round
Toshie Uematsu & The Bloody vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Meiko Satomura 11:08 *3/4
Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Lioness Asuka & Sonoko Kato 8:37 **1/4
11/23 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Sugar Sato & Sonoko Kato vs. Chikayo Nagashima & Toshie Uematsu 11:12 *1/2
New HHH Title Decision Match: Sakura Hirota vs. Lioness Asuka 8:03
Tag Tournament Semifinal: Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki 10:19 *1/2
Tag Tournament Semifinal: Devil Masami & KAORU vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Meiko Satomura 13:07 *1/2
*2000 Year in review show*
8/20/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mayumi Ozaki & Devil Masami & Dynamite Kansai vs. Chikayo Nagashima & Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo
9/15/00 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan:
Chikayo Nagashima vs. Mayumi Ozaki
Sonoko Kato vs. Akira Hokuto
9/17/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall High Spurt 600 Tournament:
Akira Hokuto vs. Sonoko Kato
Meiko Satomura vs. Devil Masami
OZ ACADEMY 4/16/00 Tokyo Zepp TOKYO, Street Fight: Sugar Sato vs. KAORU
1/16/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Aja Kong & Lioness Asuka vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Akira Hokuto
7/22/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Lioness Asuka vs. KAORU
12/17/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, AAAW Tag Title Match: Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Akira Hokuto
Highlights of CRUSH GALS reunion matches
Feature on Sakura Hirota
11/3/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Sakura Hirota vs. Chikayo Nagashima
GAEA Gala variety show