In GAEA, The Future is on the Line.
There's an implicit generational battle that runs through GAEA's history. Even more interesting how many layers of generational stars work at the top of the company. There's the stars of the 80s in the Crush Gals and Devil Masami, the next step down has 90s legends in the likes of Akira Hokuto, Dynamite Kansai, Aja Kong, & Mayumi Ozaki, then there's the names next up on the list such as Chikayo Nagashima, Sugar Sato, and GAEA originals like Meiko Satomura and Sonoko Kato. That last batch is perhaps the most important for today's bout as Satomura and her contemporaries spend a large amount of their time in GAEA testing themselves against those that came before them.
From a pure booking perspective, the match is so clear. Meiko and Kato debuted in pro wrestling against each other on GAEA's first ever show, showcased as two of Chigusa's most promising trainees. At this time in 1999, it's clear that they're the company's best bets for what the future of joshi looks like, though I might add that even at this point, Meiko comes across as the clear star of the pair. Meanwhile, there's the pairing of Aja Kong and Mayumi Ozaki, which is just a dream combination of murder bullies.
The match wastes no time exploring this dynamic. There's such a clarity and simplicity of narrative here that's stunning to behold. Even before the bell rings too, one can sense the electricity in the air when Satomura steps up to Aja. It's so obvious where the money is as far as these four go and it's entirely to GAEA's credit how early they recognize what they have in an Aja/Meiko rivalry and how committed they stay to it throughout the rest of the promotion's run.
As for the match itself, it's most famous for being structured around one of the most unrelenting and vicious heel heat segments ever. From a violence perspective, one will see much worse even from joshi this same year, but the spirit of Aja and Ozaki's performance is just so pure in nature. There's such a dismissive spite to everything they do in the first half the match. It is not only the idea that they can beat the tar out of these kids in their path, but the idea that doing so is easy. There's such a gap between the effort put in by the babyfaces and the heels here.
Observe the physicality that Meiko and Sato bring to their efforts at basically every stage of the bout. They plant their feet, they throw these wild kicks, they scream from the sheer struggle to get a single thing going. As for Aja and Ozaki though? They swat their opponents down. There's a cockiness built into every moment. Ozaki peppers in her most disrespectful backhands and pettiest kicks. Aja runs through the two with some of her most casually violent lariats ever too.
Much has been made this month over the wonderful little match between Senka Akatsuki and Aja Kong from Mania weekend--a match all about Aja Kong refusing to give an inch and the inspiring performance that draws out of Senka. Here in 1999, we see Aja and Ozaki put that same spirit into action at the peak of their abilities. There's a refusal at basically every turn to give Meiko and Kato a single goddamn inch. At multiple points in the first half of the bout, it looks like Meiko and Kato get just enough room to get a few shots in and their cut off so quickly. One sees this best in Aja's performance throughout the match. Every single time anyone dares knock off her feet, she shoots right back up, a no selling choice that feels so intentional for how effectively she's used it throughout her career, not to mention the eventual payoff we get from it several years down the line. This isn't no selling for a cheap pop, it's a character choice specifically made to disrespect our heroes and draw our sympathy towards them.
It's not a southern tag heat as the eventual payoff doesn't come from a big hot tag, but it is a vicious heat nonetheless. There's a section in there of legwork on Kato's bandaged up thigh that might have worked as a traditional heel heat. The heels are mean about it and Kato even does well selling the thing in the moment, but it's a limbwork thread that vanishes in the back half as tends to happen in a lot of joshi. Even tags can't save our heroes, when one comes in, they simply take over as the face in peril. It's an extended assault on the units as a whole, once again tapping into the idea of joshi tags being more about offensive and defensive plays against teams as a whole.
The eventual comeback is a fascinating thing too. Again, unlike the hot tag which is this instant change in momentum, the comeback here is built a lot slower and incrementally. It starts with a few bombs. Meiko hits that first big Death Valley Driver, and Aja pops right back up, but she sticks with it and soon enough, there's just enough room to leave Aja vulnerable to a sunset bomb off the ropes. Even then, Aja thinks she can breeze through this until Meiko clamps on that Sleeper.
The Sleeper is a beautiful thing. On stream watching this bout, Colette extolled the finer qualities of the Sleeper spot that feels like the first real major breakthrough for the babyfaces in the entire match. Sato's finally able to keep Ozaki at bay on the outside of the ring and Aja genuinely starts to fade in Satomura's grasp. But beyond what happens here, the moment rings with the power of history. The Sleeper has been the weakness of great bullies before. In this instance, I can't help but think of Toshiaki Kawada slapping one onto Jumbo Tsuruta at 1991's Fan Appreciation Night and what a game changer it felt like even then. Meiko and Aja imbue the moment with all that grandeur. There's such fire in Meiko's eyes as she tries to squeeze the lift out of the bigger woman.
The final stretch of the match hinges on Aja Kong's all-time talent though. The staggered selling after escaping another Death Valley, the stunned glassiness in her eyes when Kato and Meiko maneuver her into the path of multiple Ozaki double fists. It makes it all believable when Meiko hoists her up and drops her for that climactic Death Valley Driver and gets the pin.
Aja's performance in loss is so stunning too.
As with any bully, she's mortified at being punished for her sins. As soon as she comes to, it's another Uraken to Meiko and one of the most intensely expressed cries of pure frustration and rage at the entire situation. One feels just how major it is that Meiko pulled this off, and even better, it's clear that their business is far from over. It doesn't happen all at once, but there's a chink in her armor now that Meiko will spend the next two years picking at.
In GAEA, everyone battles for a piece of the future. Here in Yokohama Arena, Aja Kong feels a tiny piece of it slip through her fingers.
Rating: ****1/4