Unseen GAEA

 Meiko Satomura vs. Carlos Amano, GAEA 1/17/1999

I tried tracking this down years ago but the TV version ended up being quite clipped, so getting the full match after 20 years is really nice! And the complete version made a whole lot more sense than the clipped version as we get a bunch of really cool opening matwork and the story of the match unfolds. Basically Satomura thinks Amano is beneath her but Satomura comes in with huge disadvantages, as her shoulder is bandaged AND Amano has a bunch of hostile OZ Academy punks at ringside. These two are really tenacious wrestlers and they do a bunch of great wrestling really ripping into each other with submissions and hard shots and not letting go whenever they grabbed a limb, and the outside interference stuff was done in such a way that it didn‘t hurt the match but instead added to the story of Satomura having to fight through. The bandaged shoulder stuff was cool as there was never a point where Amano controlled Satomura for a long time working the shoulder, but she would tear into it here and there and it always came across as a nasty heel move. Great ending run as Satomura did her darndest and it really felt that if she just hit the Death Valley Bomb she could win. Amano wasn‘t yet the headbutt machine but her grappling and submissions were great as always and she did a nice job showing a mean streak being an asshole. Really really good match with some great wrestling and a they did a great job slowly escalating it and maintaining the emotional connection to the crowd.

KAORU vs. Yasha Kurenai, GAEA 4/15/1995

The GAEAISM channel continues to deliver, this match seems like it wasn‘t on the Comm. Release so this is another hit upload. Ultra heated spectacle match, the kind of thing Kurenai is so good at. Hot start with KAORU diving right into a chairshot and eating a big chokeslam. KAORU going back to her heel Infernal KAORU roots to combat Kurenai was fun, and the match ended up being about KAORUs skill vs. Kurenais rough style. Loved Kurenai busting out the staff, and the ending run was really good, KAORUs springboard moonsault may be one of the prettiest moves in wrestling history. And the heat was just off the charts.

Eagle Sawai & Jenn Yukari & Michiko Nagashima vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Bomber Hikaru & Sonoko Kato, GAEA 3/25/1996

Sawai is a monster here and dominates Chigusa early, so Chigusa busts out a bullrope! The LLPW girls bust out a chain to counter! Everyone on the GAEA team wears the same outfit! Fun chaotic match. Unfortunately we only got about 5 minutes of 18, but it was fun to check out. Kato was fired up and almost choked out Yukari at one point which was cool. The Yukari/Hikari finishing stretch also doesn‘t suck.

LLPW Dramatic Rhapsody ~ Beyond the Struggle ~ 5/23/1995

 Harley Saito & Michiko Omukai vs. Leo Kitamura & Carol Midori

They showed about 2 minutes of this. They didn't even show Harley doing anything! Travesty. Everything else looked generic and heatless. Putting on a pair of kickpads certainly did wonders for Omukai.

Noriyo Tateno vs. Mikiko Futagami

Futagami gets a rub going against Tateno who is supposed to be one of the big stars of this promotion. In reality, this was almost a complete Tateno squash with Tateno not really putting much sauce into what she was doing to Futagami. Just going through the moves. The most spice she added was stepping on Futagamis face at one point and biting. No heat. She had a cool roll up counter of Futagamis Russian Leg Sweep. Other than brief moment this was a waste.

Rumi Kazama & Kurenai Yasha vs. Miki Handa & Michiko Nagashima

This was the best match so far because it had a story and structure. Kazama and Handa were feuding, so the match built to a face off between them, but they also built up tensions between Kurenai and Nagashima. Kazama has fun violent kicks, and Handa and Nagashima did a good job isolating Kurenai. I always get a kick out of watching Handa working like the Andersons. There was a cool kendo stick duel between Kurenai and Nagashima at one point, and the finish with Kazama trying to survive while Kurenai was handcuffed was heated and had good drama. That said this went a little long and had a few pointless brawling segments.

Shinobu Kandori vs. Mizuki Endo

Endo tries to step up to the unstoppable machine that is Kandori. Fun match even though I hopped for a bit more shootstyle. Instead it was just Endo trying to get offense in on Kandori and getting smacked and countered a bunch. Great exchange of submissions at one point. Endo eats a pin at the 6 minute mark which looked unintentional and they ring the bell. Kandori has the match restarted and Endo gets to go her at her again only to eat another fluke pin 2 minutes later. Endo keeps attacking Kandori though so for some reason the match goes on until Kandori puts her away proper with a couple nasty powerbombs. Confusing endings aside the action was fun and scrappy here and they had good heat for Endo to topple Kandori. And Kandori is so charistmatic and good at her act that everything she's in ends up worth checking out.

Chigusa Nagayo & Bomber Hikaru vs. Eagle Sawai & Jenn Yukari

Great interpromotional match. Nagayo deserves a ton of credit for essentially carrying this not just with her charisma but also working the mat, throwing people around with fast suplexes and finally busting out stiff kicks. Sawai acted as her foil and while she did extremely little (basically just hitting body checks and lariats) she did it well. The section where she tried to bulldoze Nagayo only to out an out of nowhere legsweep was great. Yukari and Hikaru were supporting players, but they were fired up and the crowd getting behind Hikaru while Nagayo was earning boos was awesome. Second half had some exciting twists and nearfalls as they paced the match in such a way that you couldn't tell when the finish was gonna occure. Good stuff and a great effort from Nagayo.

THE LIBRARY