Joseph and Colette Discuss Manami Toyota vs. Chikayo Nagashima
GAEA Month comes to an end with Manami Toyota claiming the throne of one of wrestling's greatest promotions.
Welcome to the end of GAEA Month at BIG EGG. After two straight weeks of shaking up the BIG EGG MASTERLIST, we come down to earth somewhat with a really, really good match. If you're someone who follows the MASTERLIST, Toyota vs. Nagashima's place on it is less an indication of its quality and more an indication of the quality of the entire list itself — there's great matches above and below this one, and plenty of room between it and anything really rocky.
In this chat, Joseph and I yak about our experiences of Manami Toyota, 2000s-era joshi, GAEA's booking, and more – a lovely tribute to what has been our strongest theme month to date.
Colette Arrand
Rising up to challenge it, however, is REMATCH MONTH. This cycle, Joseph and I will be revisiting four pairings from BIG EGG's past — Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk, Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart, Necro Butcher vs. Toby Klein, and The Undertaker vs. Triple H — at different points on the timeline. Flair and The Funker battle at the Great American Bash! Steve Austin and Bret Hart face off for the first time ... in South Africa! Necro Butcher and Toby Klein face off in the 2004 King of the Deathmatch! Triple H and The Undertaker bring an era to a belated and much needed end in a match I'm probably going to hate! It's going to be great (until we get to the part with Hunter)!
PAID SUBS: GAEA Month isn't quite over yet, as there's bonus content on the way in the form of four more match reviews. There will also be four bonus match reviews for Rematch Month — Flair/Funk from WCW 2000, Austin/Hart from Survivor Series 1996, Butcher/Klein in CZW, and Undertaker/Triple H from WrestleMania X7.
UNPAID SUBS: If you're not a paid subscriber, you won't be getting a preview of those posts in your email client — I want to be cognizant of inbox fatigue following the addition of the WCW MONDAY NITRO MASTERLIST and don't want to fill yours up with a bunch of clipped essays. This isn't an FMW undercard match, y'all. No time like now to consider upgrading to the $2/mo or $7/mo tier.
EVERYONE: Go watch Joseph's new video about Aja Kong.
Joseph Montecillo
All beautiful things must pass and so too must our time with GAEA, one of the greatest promotions of all time. My pick for the last match of this cycle ties pretty closely into that as well, as there's something of a direct comparison to be made between Manami Toyota in GAEA and her time in AJW. Perhaps we can start with your general experience with GAEA over the month and how you've taken to the promotion before we get into this particular match.
Colette Arrand
Well, Joseph, I think it stomps ass. I wasn't ignorant to GAEA — I'd seen the GAEA Girls documentary, and GAEA was the promotion WCW had a working relationship with during their short-lived attempt at a women's division — I just needed a nudge. It's perfect. When I guested on your stream to watch these matches, I made reference to Chigusa Nagayo and her crew as being on-par, in terms of intricate plots, creative finishes, and threads that pull from every possible time and place in wrestling history, to Paul Heyman and Dusty Rhodes, and actually writing about the matches reinforced my position. She's a genius. Her roster is absurdly talented. And the strings she's pulling involve three different hierarchies of joshi wrestling history, revitalizing and reframing whole careers along the way. There aren't many promotions who've operated with that ambitious of a mandate — 1996-97 WCW and early AEW come to mind, but where the rich tapestry of wrestling history is the backdrop of capitalist vice, in GAEA it feels like the legends of the game reclaiming their history and burnishing their place in it.