GAEA STORM SIGNAL 6/13/1997 + 6/22/1997

 GAEA 6/13/1997

Meiko Satomura vs. Hiromi Kato

This was a shootstyle match. Aw yeah! Pretty much 6 minutes of smooth grappling. Then they kick the shit out of each other for about 20 seconds, and then Satomura chokes Kato out. Short, but cool.

Sonoko Kato vs. Makie Numao

Another shootstyle match. This was a bit more aggressive than the previous match, so I guess it was better. These girls will really scramble for chokes and armbars. Numao kicks the shit out of Katos bandaged shoulder and then wins with a cool arm submission. Dig it.

Over The Top Rope Rule 5 vs. 5 Elimination Match: Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima & Hiromi Kato & Toshie Uematsu & Maiko Matsumoto vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Toshiyo Yamada & Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato & Makie Numao

I wasn’t sure how this would play out considering one team was heavily lopsided with Nagayo and Yamada and nobody on the other team really being near their level. However they end up doing fine with Nagashima & Sato as leads. Fun match with some good exchanges throughout and good use of the over the top rope rule. It rules that kneebars and armbars were put over as deadly finishers in GAEA. I disliked how people that were eliminated kept interfering in the match and the match could’ve been a bit more focussed, but it was a good show, overall.

GAEA 6/22/1997

Sakura Hirota & Hiromi Kato vs. Akira Hokuto & Maiko Matsumoto

Hirota and Kato are about the two lowest ranked girls on the roster. You can imagine how much Hokuto sold for them. There was one cool moment where Kato was able to put her in a surprise Torture Rack and that was about it as far as offense they got in. This was about Hirota and Kato working together to survive and try to take out Matsumoto. Amusing match but went a bit too meandering. Dig Matsumotos Atomic Drops.

Mayumi Ozaki & Sugar Sato vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Sonoko Kato

Solid stuff here, but the match went too long and had too many sections. It tired me out. Starts chaotic with a bunch of underlings jumping Chigusa and Ozaki. Then we got Chigusa and Ozaki bullying the others tag partner before their big face off. Chigusa brutalizing Oz was cool but got lost in the shuffle. Even Hokutos heel(?) turn where she attacked Chiggy felt like it got lost. Kato bled and gave a good performance being valiant and throwing kicks. Sato also participated in the match but left no impression.

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