Chikayo Nagashima & Sugar Sato vs. Hiromi Kato & Sakura Hirota
Fun beginning here with Kato and Hirota immediately starting to brawl with chairs etc. only for it to backfire on them. This was another rookie match going 15+ match. Most of the match was dropkicks and crossbodies and stomps, you‘d think it would get boring but they get a ton out of their crossbodies dropkicks and stomps. Once again really dug all the stuff around Katos argentine backbreaker.
Kyoko Ichiki vs. Rina Ishii
Ishii gets the rub by going even with veteran Ichiki in this match. I wish we had gotten a bit more of it, but what we got was fun. Ichiki mixes in some athletic moves and Ishii looks very polished.
Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs. Maiko Matsumoto & Toshie Uematsu
Another extremely go-go type sprint that goes something like 20 minutes. The match was the usual back and forth, but I dug everyone here so it ended up being cool. I enjoyed Matsumoto hitting hard leg drops from all angles and making use of the atomic drop agai, and Uematsu was like a wrecking ball flying into the ring dropkicking people in the back of their heads. As always Satomura and Kato were feisty kicking the crap out of their opponents. It‘s funny to watch young Satomura bust out things like a twisting springboard splash. Match felt hard-fought, and had a neat finish. Full GAEA point, I guess?
Akira Hokuto & KAORU vs. Chihiro Nakano & Makie Numao
Every match on this show so far has been pretty much a sprint, but here we get a STORY~! As Numao and Nakano act all spunky and uppity and the veterans teach them a lesson by stretching and smacking them while also giving them appropriate time to shine. KAORU and Hokuto seem to be building a strong resume working these more story-driven matches in GAEA so far, and Nakano and Numao once again look great. Hokuto is especially good, as she acts like a badass who fucks shit up and takes no crap from anyone, but also will show ass at the right time. Loved her hobbling back to her corner after getting caught in a random kneebar. My only gripe is the clipped 6 minutes from this, although it‘s rather seamless clipping. Still, a 2 hour TV slot and they STILL had to clip?!
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo
(note: the linked video is clipped slightly compared to the original TV airing.)
Parts of this were very cool, I dig Chigusas kicks, Ozakis sudden assault with the wooden spikes looked grizzly, and there was some gnarly fighting going on with both ladies trading headbutts and stiff backfists. That said this was largely an overly long mess with way too much no selling. It’s weird how Nagayo had one of the smartest matches I’ve seen in a while just the month before but then completely blunders it here. There was also a weird moment where Ozaki ripped her pants and had to roll outside to put on a new pair, and it happened in the middle of the finishing stretch. Just really weirdly paced match.
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