taped 1/14
Sakura Hirota vs. Toshie Uematsu 10:14
1/13: Carlos Amano vs. Aya Sakurai 8:46
Lioness Asuka vs. Aya Sakurai 8:46
Mayumi Ozaki & Chikayo Nagashima & Carlos Amano vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada 18:14
4/12/97: Akira Hokuto vs. KAORU
Meiko Satomura vs. KAORU 20:34
Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs. Akira Hokuto & Aja Kong 18:24
WILD TIMES 1/26/02 Osaka Umeda Stellar Hall: Meiko Satomura vs. Aya Sakurai
WAR CRY 2/8/02 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Carlos Amano vs. Toshie Uematsu
HHH Senshuken: Sakura Hirota vs. Carlos Amano
Chigusa Nagayo & Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura & Chikayo Nagashima
11/2/96: Akira Hokuto vs. Sakura Hirota
1/26 Hokuto Countdown: Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Akira Hokuto
2/18 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Hokuto Countdown, LCO 10th Anniversary: Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada
2/16/02: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Aya Sakurai
3/17 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Dynamite Kansai & Carlos Amano vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Aya Sakurai
Meiko Satomura & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Aja Kong & Akira Hokuto
2/16/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Chigusa Nagayo & Akira Hokuto vs. KAORU & Maiko Matsumoto
3/21: Chikayo Nagashima vs. KAORU
Retrospective of Hokuto's GAEA career. The structuring is basically Hokuto talking a little before and after her most notable matches, which are edited about in half. The show is done a lot better than I expected, the match selection is good and the show isn't a barrage of images like the ARSION's would be. The one annoying thing is since Hokuto is doing new commentary they sometimes go to a full screen of her in the middle of the match, which might make sense if you can understand her but hurts the flow if you can't.
Toshiyo Yamada & Carlos Amano vs. Devil Masami & Toshie Uematsu. 0:45 shown
Sakura Hirota vs. Policewo~men. 0:31 shown
Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs. Lioness Asuka & Aya Sakurai. 1:20 shown
Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai. 3:30 shown
AAAW Tag Senshukenjiai: Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU. 4:44 shown
Akira Hokuto Final Match: Akira Hokuto & Meiko Satomura vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Ayako Hamada. 8:55 shown
Hokuto post retirement stuff
LIMIT BREAK 4/14/02 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
AAAW Single Senshukenjiai: Meiko Satomura vs. Chikayo Nagashima. Clip
Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Sugar Sato & Carlos Amano 10:39.
MS: What aired was pretty bad, with Yamada and Kansai basically squashing
Amano and Sugar. GAEA does a lot of cool things but this 1880 football gimmick
employed by Kansai and Yamada is really stupid. Half of what they do involves
using a 3-point stance and while I understand that GAEA has always been similar
to WCW, why they'd want to emulate Jim Duggan is beyond me.
JUNCTION 5/6/02 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
KAORU vs. Toshie Uematsu 12:19.
MS: I really wish that GAEA would air less matches and give more time to
the ones they do air (or at least cutout the playbacks to give those minutes
to the current stuff) because it's nearly impossible to get a feel for anything
in a 90 second clip of a 12 or 15 minute match. Uematsu got the surprise
win with a roll-up shortly after Devil hit KAORU with one of those old W*ING
chairs (the ones where the seat pops out when coming in contact with someone's
head). I'm glad I was only a kid in the '80s and not subjected to a lot of
its horrid fashions, but I do like Uematsu's new "Fame" look.
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Devil Masami 11:27
MS: They were all about the comedy here. As a result, this was a very funny
match but one with weak wrestling and serious sloppiness from KAORU and Chigusa.
So while I enjoyed it, overall, it was a let-down. There was a cool and inventive
finish though where Sakura simultaneously pinned Chigusa and KAORU, but the
worst part of the match was Oz doing her Rikishi imitation (which thankfully
didn't last past this match). They did have a far better and straighter match
a month later on #62. *1/2
4/14: Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Sakura Hirota. Clip
11/2/96 Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs. Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima
5/6: Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Meiko Satomura & Ayako Hamada 9:34
MS: What aired was okay, but marred by sloppiness when Sugar was involved
(which was way too often). Ayako looked a bit slow as well, but Chikayo and
Satomura were able to make-up for it during their sequences. They hinted
at a future program between Ayako and Chikayo, but didn't do much to set
it up as Sugar and Meiko spent the majority of the time in the ring. **1/2
Highlights from 5/26/02 Aichi Chikusa Sports Center: Chikayo Nagashima vs. Carlos Amano, Sugar Sato vs. Toshie Uematsu, Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs. Devil Masami & Aja Kong, Meiko Satomura & Ayako Hamada vs. Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada, Chigusa Nagayo & Sakura Hirota vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Kaoru
AAAW Tag Title Next Challenger Decision Tournament Semifinal: Chigusa Nagayo & Sakura Hirota vs. Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita Digest of 7:42
AAAW Tag Title Next Challenger Decision Tournament Semifinal: Devil Masami & Toshie Uematsu vs. Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada Digest of 9:44
AAAW Tag Title Next Challenger Decision Tournament Final: Chigusa Nagayo & Sakura Hirota vs. Devil Masami & Toshie Uematsu Digest of 8:29
AAAW Tag Title Match: Mayumi Ozaki & Kaoru vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Sakura Hirota 19:02
MS: Despite how much of a hypocrite it might make me, I actually like the Eccentric gimmick. Seeing Chigusa dance like 3 Count is just too hilarious for me to resist. Plus, since I dig Sakura's antics it's all good to me. The match itself was pretty wild except for a spot where it took so long for KAORU and Chigusa to set-up KAORU pushing Chigusa off the ring post onto Sakura and thru a table that I thought Sakura had fallen asleep waiting for it. Sakura's offense is still pretty shitty looking, but they did a good job of not putting her in situations where she'd hurt the match. She mainly did double teams with Chigusa and near falls and as a result she didn't drag the match down any. D-FIX are so fluid that Oz and KAORU might be the best team in joshi puroresu right now. They are doing new and cool things, while LCO aren't as good as they used to be because they haven't improved or done anything new in 3 years. There were some great near falls that really added a lot to the match, and in turn heated the crowd up even more than they already were. It started with Ozaki and Police assisting KAORU in superbombing Hirota off the top rope. Chigusa hit two superfreaks on Oz (the first of which I thought for sure would be the finish), while Ozaki used a nice shining wizard on Chigusa. The only let-down in the match was that Mayumi tried a couple more and none of them looked good at all. This included the ending where she jumped off KAORU's back and maybe grazed Chigusa with her foot, certainly hurting the match to finish with a kick that wasn't convincing. Overall though, they did a great job here and this was a really cool match that showed why GAEA is the most exciting joshi group right now in my opinion. ***1/4
Playback 8/30/97: Sugar Sato & Toshie Uematsu vs. Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato
AAAW Single Title Next Challenger Decision Tournament Semifinal: Chikayo Nagashima vs. Sugar Sato Digest of 10:34
AAAW Single Title Next Challenger Decision Tournament Semifinal: Ayako Hamada vs. Carlos Amano Digest of 10:02
AAAW Single Title Next Challenger Decision Tournament Final: Chikayo Nagashima vs. Ayako Hamada Digest of 10:26
AAAW Single Title Match: Meiko Satomura vs. Chikayo Nagashima 19:23
MS: This was an excellent match with matching effort from both women. I really enjoyed how aggresive the beginning was as they went off the fact that they've been fueding for the 7 years they and GAEA have been around. Satomura was pretty vicious throughout as she's finally solidified the style she's been moving towards, employing more effective strikes and being totally serious in dropping the goofy cats clawing routine. Chikayo did a strong job of selling for those strikes. Their pacing was great as there were no slow or dead spots during what aired. Both did an excellent job of selling each others finishers as the match progressed into that back and forth. They each popped up a couple of times, but were still putting over the effects that the fisherman's buster from Chikayo and Death Valley bomb from Meiko caused, they weren't just totally no-selling them. This was part of the only negative about the match though. Like the 12/15/01 match where Meiko took the AAAW Title from Aja, they went to their finishers early and often here and the more and more they used them, the less you believed one or the other was going to win with it. I also felt the finish was somewhat anti-climatic. Chikayo pulled Meiko off the top rope and after quickly posing for the crowd she hit a 450 footstomp for the win. Because of the way the match was going I would've like to have seen a flash pin, which is what they were building towards in my opinion. However, this didn't detract from the match and it was an excellent way for Chikayo to finally win the title and not have Meiko lose anything (belt the match of course) by doing so. ****
6/2/02 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU vs. Meiko Satomura & Aja Kong 4:00 of 12:07
Aja Kong & Devil Masami & Toshie Uematsu & Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs. Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada & Ayako Hamada & Sugar Sato & Carlos Amano 16:32
6/29/02 Niigata Phase: Chikayo Nagashima & Ayako Hamada vs. Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU 9:57 of 17:48
10/10/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Sakura Hirota 5:59 of 15:56
6/29/02: Aja Kong vs. Toshiyo Yamada 9:11 of 16:23
6/30/02 Miyagi ZEPP SENDAI: Aja Kong & Devil Masami vs. Dynamite Kansai & Sugar Sato 8:56.
7/7/02 Osaka Dome Sky Hall: Dynamite Kansai vs. Aja Kong. 7:38 of 7:59. Aja carried Kansai to the best she can do these days. Crap compared to their mid 90's bouts, but they still have some chemistry and it was a surprisingly spirited effort. Toyota showed up after the match, making her debut in GAEA. Yamada was beside herself because Manami aligned herself with Aja, and the old partners got into a fight setting up Toyota's first program. **1/2
7/14/02 undercard highlights
7/14/02 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Manami Toyota & Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada. 15:20. Toyota looked young since she hasn't been GAEAified, but Dynasaur's quality work has been extinct in this decade and Yamada didn't wrestle any better against her best opponent than against the usual assortment of hasbeens and never wases. **
8/20/00: Sonoko Kato vs. Meiko Satomura 6:46 of 8:55 Good match but much too short. Should have been one of the great rivalries of the 2000's if Kato stayed healthy and Chigusa ever elevated the younger wrestlers to the level where people would care when they fought each other. **
BLAST WAVE 8/11/02 Aichi Chikusa Sports Center: Chikayo Nagashima & Ayako Hamada vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Sakura Hirota 12:02. Chikayo's efforts made it passable at times, but as always the "match" belonged to Hirota, who did nothing but Doink it up. *
Devil Masami & Sonoko Kato vs. Carlos Amano & Sugar Sato. 5:21 of 12:44. Carlos was featured and singlehandedly made it pretty good. Devil & Kato rose from their usual level to meet her, but Sugar sucked
KAORU vs. Toshiyo Yamada. 6:15 of 15:47. Entire match was KAORU killing off finisher after finisher in typical mindless fashion.
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai. 5:36 of 13:46. Ozaki was always Kansai's best opponent, but these days Aja can do better. Ozaki has gone way downhill since D-FIX started; her former strengths like acting, meaning, and drama are nowhere to be found and have been replaced by sloppy highspots and indy garbage in the mode of her pitiful partner. Despite all that this was pretty good, but these two once had one of the greatest brawls ever because of the drama and the story whereas today they are just running through their old spots to the point it might as well be parody.
Chigusa Nagayo vs. Sakura Hirota 14:17. Only thing good about these two meeting is something else should get time because their individual matches can't hog the entire program. Hirota did the most laughing then Chigusa then the audience. Lioness came out with pigtails, which I'd always imagined were probably banned in The L League, and wound up lariating Chigusa causing Hirota to get the win. Chigusa didn't much care that she lost, you know just to make sure the result didn't help Hirota in the least (not that she's worth it) and even left with Lioness. DUD
1/19/97: Chigusa Nagayo & Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima 7:37 of 24:20. Good match with Ozaki & Chigusa providing leadership and direction but not making their rivalry all that mattered. Had intensity that's lacking in joshi these days.
Mima Shimoda vs. Chikayo Nagashima. 8:58 of 16:05. Chikayo works better sequences with her peers, but they did all their good moves (surprise surprise) and it was actually a competitive match. Shimoda had no ego, with Chikayo actually scoring the upset despite Mita's regular interference. ***
Manami Toyota & Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura & Ayako Hamada. 19:15 of 22:27. Aja brought some of the intensity and meaning that's been lacking, though it still came off more as a house show match than a substantial Zenjoism vs. GAEAism battle. Aja worked good sequences, and ones that made it seem like Satomura & Hamada could win, while the other veterans in GAEA just do spots. Chikayo got in Toyota's face since she won the other "AJW vs. GAEA", setting up their title match in October. ***1/4
Aja Kong & Etsuko Mita vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Sugar Sato. 10:47. Better than expected due to an energetic performance by Sato and Chigusa being a non factor. Aja actually made Sato look good at times, and Mita was typically solid. **
1/27/01 AAAW Tag Senshukenjiai: Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka. 9:26 of 9:38. Recipe for success with these teams - short with everyone active but Ozaki & Lioness doing the bulk of the actual wrestling. ***
10/6: Carlos Amano vs. Sakura Hirota. 9:37 of 10:12. Carlos resigned and just let Hirota do her thing. Carlos didn't even bother doing her offense, not one submission, and it was likely the worst match of her career. -*
10/6: Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU vs. Lioness Asuka & Meiko Satomura. 14:00. A spot oriented version of Crush vs. Dump with Lioness handcuffed then Satomura double teamed. Good wrestling from Ozaki vs. Lioness early then Satomura in the underdog role she does well. Ozaki needs to use less urakens because they are fairly weak when she does hit them. Finish really made no sense. ***
Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda vs. Chikayo Nagashima & Lioness Asuka. 19:12. Toyota was paired with Chikayo as a warmup for the big match, but Toyota didn't made Chikayo look credible and Lioness vs. Shimoda wound up providing superior wrestling. Good action, but one of those iritating results that sounds good on paper but is a total useless fluke in actuality. ***
Carlos Amano vs. Ran YuYu. 6:23 of 14:34. They wrestled like it was the main event even though it was the opener, delivering the kind of quality the main event was supposed to. As expected, the sequences were extremely impressive. Somewhat spoiled by the lame finish and the fact that GAEA insisted on wasting tons of time on pomp and superfice so they could hatcheting the good matches as usual. Ran joined GAEA after the match. Good
Aja Kong vs. Sugar Sato. 9:47 of 16:57. Amazing job by Aja in getting a good match out of Sugar, probably her first good singles match in years. The brawling helped Sugar because it kept her from her usual offense, from being a repetitious little Eagle. It lead to one memorable spot, well as memorable as spots are these days, where Sugar powerbombed Aja off the 2nd onto a barrel. Most of the veterans condescend to the younger wrestlers, but that's not what Aja was doing here. Well, it is, but she does it purposely as a way to raise Sato's standing. Aja maintains consistency, believing Sugar is no match for her, but we can see her coming closer and closer throughout the match. And finally she actually pinned Aja, and Aja actually lost gracefully like she should. Some drama and build here. Good
Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka. 8:33 of 16:54. Typical insignificant kill the spots fest. So unrelenting were the big moves and garbage spots that there was no drama or intrigue. Lioness did a wicked blade job; blood kept dripping off her face when she was on her knees. Fair
ZERO-ONE Yokohama Special: Steve Corino & Low ki vs. The Predator & Leonardo Spanky. 5:53 of 13:05. Most memorable thing about the match is they played the incomparable symphonic Italian power metal band Rhapsody during the picture intros. Predator & Spanky actually made a pretty good team, and Spanky showed some good flying. Fair
Devil Masami & Toshie Uematsu vs. Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada. 4:45 of 15:51. Better than expected with Devil in the mood to hold it together and Yamada & Uematsu doing most of their best work of the year. Dynasaur was nowhere to be seen, which also helped. Okay to pretty good.
Mixed Gender Match: Police vs. Sakura Hirota. 2:19 of 10:05. Hirota was dominating so D-FIX did the lamest looking sandwich chair leading to the finish. Awful
AAAW Tag Senshukenjiai: Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU vs. Meiko Satomura & Ayako Hamada. 9:01 of 23:05. Normally I'd bitch about the semifinal, especially a "big title match" being butchered like this, but after about a minute I'd seen enough. D-FIX is just awful. Ozaki doesn't bother with any of her good points. Instead, she simply stoops to the mindless garbage spot brawling of KAORU, delivering vapid minute after vapid minute. D-FIX didn't appear to use any wrestling moves whatsoever, just plunder. Satomura & Hamada were all spots as well, but who can blame them with the example their elders were setting? Poor
AAAW Single Senshukenjiai: Chikayo Nagashima vs. Manami Toyota. 20:31 of 21:29. Once again, the fundamental weaknesses in Toyota's character and style destroyed the match. Toyota cannot work with the younger wrestlers because they are smaller. She refuses to ignore that fact, but also to play the role of the large woman. While Aja & Devil are not master bump takers, they know how to use their body and their opponents to make their opponents offense come off properly. Toyota, on the other hand, makes it look awkward and sloppy. Because size must, according to her, be a factor, but she won't play the large woman her matches wind up feeling like a lighthearted exhibition. She shows her superiority through smirks and giggles, which takes the audience out of the match, and through no sells which again serve no purpose beyond making her opponent look far from the level. Bull might have been guilty of more no selling than any woman in the last 15 years, but she made sure the few times she did sell were highly meaningful. With Toyota, it all seems indifferent. You never feel like her opponent is gaining on her, like Sato was on Aja, so you can never take them seriously. Nagashima can work some really quick and smoot sequences with the younger girls, but here she didn't even try. Still, the set up was clumsy and too many moves, like seemingly all Nagashima's footstomps, were barely connecting. The format of the match hurt also, they were more or less biding their time then suddenly they rolled out a bunch of finishers as if drama was a switch you could just flick on when the right time call came. *1/2
Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU vs. Carlos Amano & Ran YuYu. 9:50 of 21:02. Should have been a good wrestling match, but instead we got our FIX of weapons. Carlos tried to wrestle a few times, but Police would run in. Carlos & Ran did little - I remember one lucky near fall between the two of them - but they got the meaningless flash pin only to be beat up after the match. Pointless. Poor
Lioness Asuka & Devil Masami vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Sugar Sato. 14:30. Chigusa tried traditional wrestling, which she is also no longer even decent at. At least we were spared another numbing spotfest, but a restfest is not exactly a legitimate alternative. Chigusa worked (if that's the word for it) most of the way, so they took it easy. **
AAAW Tag Senshukenjiai: Meiko Satomura & Ayako Hamada vs. Manami Toyota & Aja Kong. 18:18 of 27:12. Aja is consistenly the best veteran in GAEA, working much better with the younger wrestlers than any of her peers. Most of the quality stemmed from here, and to her credit she put Ayako over clean, in legitimate fashion. Toyota was better with Ayako than with Satomura & Chikayo, but did very little selling and generally didn't make that much of an impression. Since it was a title match more effort went into the early portion, but building was still left to Mexicans with power tools. ***1/4
8/5/95: Chigusa Nagayo & Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs. Devil Masami & Tomoko Kuzumi & Tomoko Miyaguchi. 9:49 of 18:39. Forgettable match. Chigusa directed traffic but wasn't selling, and the youngsters weren't particularly impressive. Devil wasn't involved much, and Miyaguchi seemed to get beat on during most of what aired.
AAAW Single Title Next Challenger High Spurt 600 Tournament
Carlos Amano vs. Meiko Satomura. 5:50. They didn't wrestle like it was a short match, which in this case wasn't a good thing. Good surprise finish, but otherwise far less than their capability. *1/2
Semifinal: Sugar Sato vs. Carlos Amano. 3:03. Disappointing match with White Buffalo winning way too easily.
Semifinal: Chikayo Nagashima vs. Ran YuYu. 3:33. They tried to do a complex match, but it was fairly sloppy since they aren't used to each other yet.
Final: Ran YuYu vs. Sugar Sato. 10:44 of 11:10. Compared to what Ran attempted with Chikayo this looked like a rookie match. As this was the one "long" match in the tournament, suddenly they wrestled like it was short and did nothing but near falls.
11/7 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Manami Toyota & Lioness Asuka & Aja Kong vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada. 14:17 of 19:09. With no younger wrestlers in the match their age showed more; kind of slow and sloppy. It all seemed routine, second nature, just going through the motions of their favorite moves. Began weakly then suddenly switched to nothing but near finishes. Toyota was particularly sloppy, and even botching the finishing segment with Yamada's help. *1/2
Manami Toyota & Devil Masami & Aja Kong vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Meiko Satomura & Sugar Sato. 15:33 of 17:46. Devil carried the early portion with willing followers then Aja took over in the second half. Aja vs. Satomura was good. Yamada was good with Aja, but lousy with Toyota. Toyota & Sugar weren't too good. Even Aja is doing the shining wizard *yawn* now. **1/2
Chikayo Nagashima & Toshie Uematsu vs. Ran YuYu & Carlos Amano. 11:13 of 16:11. Pretty weak effort that never approached their potential and didn't even have one good sequence. Beginning was wasted, and though it got better in a hurry 9 min into what aired that didn't leave enough time to save it. Uematsu added nothing and the other 3 were on vacation. **
5/4/95: KAORU & Sonoko Kato vs. Miki Handa & Michiko Nagashima. 9:29 of 19:34. D-FIX should watch this match, or hell Ozaki should just remember what made her a great heel. Handa & Nagashima wreaked havoc with objects, working really well together. It had attitude, heat, some meaning, a certain credibility. Basically, you believed in what they were doing because it wasn't one contrived weakly executed gimmick spot after another. Kato took a major beating in the good portion of the match, and KAORU flew in now and then like she was in a Toyota spotfest.
KAORU vs. Sakura Hirota. 6:26 aired. A mockery. Sakura purposely blew some spots, the rest are because they blow. -**
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo. 7:55 of 8:18. Not that long ago Ozaki vs. Chigusa was an event you looked forward too, now their brawl was just garbage. KAORU & Police interfered constantly, so Chikayo helped Chigusa leading to the finish. Ozaki cut a little of Chigusa hair early in case she was starting to resemble a female, so Chigusa cut some of Police's later. Not much wrestling and somewhat sloppy when they did. *
12/1: Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Toshie Uematsu. GAEA may have matches with booking in mind, but they still manage to deliver no substance. Lots of bad brawling and more haircut teasing to set up the hair vs. hair match in April. Finish looked like a near fall where Ozaki forgot to kick out or the ref counted too last. DUD
Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Toshie Uematsu. 5:43 of 5:55. Actually had some intensity. Chigusa's team was pissed that D-FIX had cut hair in the previous match and were determined to beat them up. They bloodied both opponents, and it was looking like a surprisingly good brawl when it ended so soon out of nowhere. Uematsu scoring the upset sounded good on paper, but of course D-FIX popped up, dragged Kato in, and cut her hair. They could have done that part of the gimmick another day so Uematsu might have gained something, but that's the m.o. of all the vets, on the rare occassion you have to put someone younger over make sure you show it was a fluke and do something so they are immediately forgotten. To make things worse for Uematsu, Amano & Ran were the ones that made the save, transfering the heat and setting up a new match. *1/2
Devil Masami & Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura & Carlos Amano. 11:12 of 13:20. Aja gets a lot out of these two, and they were energized to work with her. Aja was in most of the match, and once again in top current form. Good sequences, timing, and execution. Fans were into it. ***
4/29/96: Chigusa Nagayo & Sugar Sato vs. Shinobu Kandori & Michiko Omukai. 10:50 of 11:46. Mediocre match with no one being all that good, though the GAEA was better than the LLPW. Lots of Sugar vs. Omukai. Omukai looked great before she started ruining herself, but as a wrestler she was kind of robotic. *3/4
AAAW Single Next Challenger Decision Match: Sugar Sato vs. Toshiyo Yamada. 16:23. A rare attempt at a non spotfest. Thus, I'd like to be more positive, but replacing spots with stalling isn't exactly inspirational. Sugar tried to carry this. She flashed back to her youth as best she could, working over Yamada's knee with focus. Unfortunately, she's bloated to the point of clumsiness, so what was impressive cerca '97 was largely unimpressive now that she's looking like a female Fuyuki. Yamada's execution was clean, but even compared to Sato her stamina is poor. The best points were from Yamada, but she's incredibly inconsistent and physically unable to do a tough 16 minute match (hence all the stalling). **