Meiko Satomura & Chikayo Nagashima vs Ran Yu yu & Ayako Hamada, GAEA 10/13/2003
Not as good as the August tag with all the youngguns, but still pretty damn good pro wrestling. After a good opening exchange from Satomura and Hamada, Nagashima and Ran kinda flub something and Nagashima puts the pointless Figure 4 of doom on Ran. The match gets back on track fast though when Ran starts beating the shit out of Nagashima. Nagashimas headscissors and ranas give a different vibe to everyone else, some of her stuff looked a little clunky but its fun, and I liked when Ayako just chucked her to the mat like a piece of trash. Match gets awesome really quickly again when Satomura tags back in and everybody just starts teeing off on each other. Satomura vs Ran is especially great, just two badass wrestlers who hit like a truck squaring off. Rans elbows once again ruled and there were a handful of cool experimental moments. Really liked how there was a sense of going for the kill constantly, all killer no filler, and the finish is freaking sweet.
No Rules Streetight, yeah! Takako had done a run in on a previous show, costing the Crush Gals a win with her goofy cattle prod. They had all kinds of props for this – barbedwire boards, a ladder, various weapons and that damn cattle prod, and they really got the most mileage out of it all. This could easily have been a total geek show if it was just a bunch of deathmatch guys but these are all talented enough to get serious drama out of everything. Chigusa in 2003 is so good that she makes even something like tugging on a chain compelling, and of course her crowd connection is just unreal. Asuka is good as you need a sidekick to be, being stoic, dropping bombs, spin kicking people in the head, bringing out her goofy tribal design table that she really likes. Right at the go Inoue - who's in a Playboy shirt - has her cattle prod but gets headkicked into dropping it. Later she ends up getting it back but seems to shock herself somehow when she touches the barbedwire. Awesome. And these legends are all not afraid to roll around in the barbedwire. Frantic pace, super heat, lots of chaos and fun unique spots and drama, all leading to a satisfying ending where they all get bowled into the wire, GAEA was on a roll with these crazy spectacle brawls in 2003.
Dynamite Kansai vs Chikayo Nagashima, GAEA 10/24/2003
If I had to name a perfect big vs little sprint, I think this would be pretty close to it. Tremendous match which delivered hard all the way through. The more I watch late career Dynamite Kansai, the more I appreciate her. She is clearly marred by her health, but still totally works as a monster and can still pull off great stuff. Lot of great cat and mouse chases here with Nagashima being like an airplane trying to take down King Kong. Nagashimas offense being a mix of lucha rollups and really violent double stomps was pretty perfect. Of course, Kansai still has those violent kicks and can drop bombs, but she uses everything sparringly, which makes her one of the smarter wrestlers around IMO. A few mind blowing counters here especially the finish. Just a great 10 minute match.
Toshiyo Yamada vs KAORU, GAEA 10/25/2003
Frantic brawl with a lot of raw chaotic energy. This was all action, but they weren’t just doing moves, they were constantly creating moments, so it was intrigueing all the way through. Right away KAORU starts brawling. She goes for a moonsault off the top to the floor, missing but landing on her feet, which is pretty crazy. Yamada ends up kicking the guardrail, and there’s a lot of hard banging on metal in this match. KAORU proceeds to clobber her knee with a steel chair. Ozaki is also at ringside, interferring in a few ways including just tossing a steel chain at Yamada here and there. It could get grating but it doesn’t and I appreciate the referee for not counting a pin after Ozaki had just done a blatant run in to hit a 3D with KAORU in Yamada. Yamadas selling of the leg is just fine – acknowleding that damage had been done, limping a little, but not going too over the top with it and just working her way back into the match and moving on. She starts kicking the shit out of KAORU and there’s real heat here and it’s great. They just keep going relentlessly, and keep creating moments. KAORUs athleticism is really good, I also liked how she pretended that her bad knee gave out, and she has a lot of cool ways to get out of Yamadas finisher. Yamada still has badass kicks in 2003 and shows fire here. Selling in the last minutes wasn’t super important but I thought for this kind of hit and run brawl it works. Good stuff, and these two seem underappreciated.
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