GAEA G-PANIC! #40 11/29/00 DEEP ENDLESS |
11/3/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall AAAW Tag Next Challenger Tag Tournament 1st Round
Toshie Uematsu & The Bloody vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Meiko Satomura 11:08 They wrestled with enthusiasm, putting effort and energy into all the holds and near falls. However, it was as mindless and goofy as ever. Uematsu charged at Satomura and tried to boot her off the apron, but Satomura Dragon screwed her over the top to the floor, which looked as dumb as you’d expect. Chigusa kicked out of Uematsu’s doublewrist armsault finisher at 1 then Uematsu did it again and we were supposed to believe in the near fall. Chigusa did it back to Uematsu, and actually came closer to winning with Uematsu’s move than Toshie did! Bloody was disappointing, and Satomura was in an odd mood, thinking she was a luchador. Uematsu stepped up to pick up the slack, and Chigusa actually sold some, even if not necessarily at the right times. **1/2
Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Lioness Asuka & Sonoko Kato 8:37. They opened with a finishing sequence where Kansai nearly defeated Kato with her splash mountain and lariat. They kept everyone involved, mostly having Kansai & Yamada destroy Kato with Lioness regularly bailing Sonoko out. Kato wasn’t really given the chance to do anything since their offense was Lioness running through her routine. Yamada did most of the selling for her team, and looked fine. **
11/23/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Sugar Sato & Sonoko Kato vs. Chikayo Nagashima & Toshie Uematsu 11:12 They kept moving, but they seemed to not know where they wanted to go. In any case, they never found their stride or any semblance of a direction. Uematsu was pretty good, and Nagashima was second best. Kato, who seemed to not be close to 100% as usual, was disappointing. *3/4
New HHH Title Decision Match: Sakura Hirota vs. Lioness Asuka 8:03. Hirota was sporting a new title belt since a fan “won” the last one. She dressed up as Dump Matsumoto, so she tried to cut Lioness’ hair (I guess they figure Lioness, Chigusa, close enough?). However, while referee Tommy Ran was supposed to be Dump’s sympathetic heel ref Shiro Abe, she quickly double crossed Hirota, taking the scissors from her and cutting Sakura’s hair. Hirota was looking dumpier than ever, but got a free liposuction when Lioness ripped the newspaper she was using for stuffing out of her top. Hirota was on offense a lot, looking even more ridiculous than usual in making a farce out of Dump’s pathetic offense. In spite of the match being a joke, they did manage to make winning seem important. -*
Tag Tournament Semifinal: Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki 10:19 Kind of sad to see Ozaki and Kansai running through their great old sequences in a slow and clumsy fashion. Note to Kansai: when you can’t even work with Ozaki anymore, it’s time to retire. Kansai was actually better than usual, but on the other hand it was painfully obvious she’s not 1/10th the wrestler she used to be. Ozaki had to do endless urakens because it’s hard for the person taking that to find a way to screw it up, but that’s not helpful when the person delivering them is either missing or grazing. The match was at it’s best when one wrestler was running at the other and doing a move because anyone can give and take a lariat. Luckily, it was mostly Ozaki vs. Yamada. They wrestled with urgency, but in the end Ozaki was the only one who really did anything, and she was off. **1/4
Tag Tournament Semifinal: Devil Masami & KAORU vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Meiko Satomura 13:07. All action but totally random and devoid of reason. They lacked skill, but even moreso brains. KAORU was doing her best to make it exciting. Her first segment was sloppy and contrived, but she did keep Chigusa working fairly hard throughout. KAORU used the table excessively as usual, repeatedly hitting Chigusa with it, only to have Chigusa grin at her. Masami was the only solid wrestler in the match, but she always seems to be in Stupid Heel mode when she’s against Chigusa. I suppose she figures if Chigusa isn’t going to sell, why should she? In any case, Devil even did the zombie up after Satomura’s Death Valley bomb. It wasn’t enough for Chigusa to defeat Devil, she had to beat Ozaki up after the match too as a way to “promote” the tournament final. As consolation, Ozaki got to come up from behind and shake Satomura by the hair. **1/4
