This is GAEA, Motherfuckers.
After decades as the uncontested promoter of women's wrestling in Japan, AJW began running into a wall in the mid-90s. It's a difficult time for the national economy as a whole. Japan is knee deep in its Lost Decade, an economic stagnation that negatively affected a whole host of industries, wrestling included. Money's tighter, there's less people that can come out to a show. Then there's the mistakes that AJW itself made internally. The 80s and early 90s saw the infamous practice of mandating retirement for talents reaching their mid-20s, a move that effectively gutted the company's main event scene repeatedly. The end of the 80s saw great talents and box office draws such as Jaguar Yokota, Devil Masami, Dump Matsumoto, and (most importantly for this piece) the Crush Gals cast aside.
AJW's self-sabotage damaged their own monopolistic grip on the women's wrestling industry. The 80s saw the opening of a variety of competitors– often utilizing talent that AJW had forced out. This includes JWP and LLPW, promotions that AJW saw much success collaborating with in the early 90s. Even that struggled to sustain the company though. Even after letting go of the mandatory retirement age, bad luck would hinder the company as well. By 1994, Akira Hokuto was battered enough from multiple injuries to be relegated to being a part-time talent. That's a pretty massive blow to a company whose main event scene was being primarily held down by long reigning Aja Kong and her rivalries with outsiders like Dynamite Kansai.
There was room for change and growth in the joshi scene, and in 1995, one of the industry's biggest names made it happen.
Chigusa Nagayo is one of the most influential and popular babyfaces in pro wrestling history. Beloved by schoolgirls all throughout the 80s and drawing some of the most sympathetic reactions ever as an underdog babyface, Nagayo returned to pro wrestling in 1993, spending most of her time in JWP. The mid-90s saw Chigusa transform her legendary babyface act into one of a living legend with a much battle-hardened and power-based approach in the ring. In 1995, she made the move to found her own promotion, and thus GAEA was born.
As far as inaugural main events that set the tone for what a promotion is to become, few do it quite as well as this street fight pitting Chigusa Nagayo & Dynamite Kansai against Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki. In a single crazed brawl, these four wrestlers set the template for a promotion's entire identity.
Structurally, this has the makings of so many of the great GAEA brawls to come in the future. For the most part, the match foregoes any strict adherence to the southern tag formula. While there are moments of babyface shine, and the heels steal cheat their way to advantages, the stipulation means that there's rarely a truly extended heat segment, and hot tags vary in effectiveness and number. At the heart of it though, this best joshi tags tap into the same general vibe that the famous Thunder Queen Battle match does: a real feeling that playing defense and neutralizing the other side is the only real path towards victory. At its worst, this idea leads to incoherent spotfests, at its best, it leads to something like this.
It's the performances that allow a tag like this too flourish. Two iconic rivalries are combined with Chigusa/Devil and Dynamite/Ozaki anchoring everything here with a sense of history and gravitas. They don't rest on the laurels of the past though as everything here feels like such a decisive step forward. Take Chigusa and Devil, for example. This match sees us in the midst of Devil's Undertaker-inspired Super Heel era, and while it's far from my favorite iteration of hers, she does so great at capturing the feel of being an immovable object. There's the emphatic sit ups, of course, but look at that moment where she goes forehead to forehead with Chig. They evoke two rams locking horns, just will against will, and Masami has enough power and weight behind her that it takes a Kansai assist from the apron to support Chig in the battle.
Masami's take on the Super Heel character also works because of the viciousness that comes with it. Even as someone that counts themself a fan of The Undertaker, Old Mark never put a chain around someone's neck and dogwalked them through the crowd. Masami's so meanspirited here, always mugging at her opponents and the fans, throwing weaponry with a wild abandon, it's beautiful to observe.
Ozaki's the perfect complement to Masami's raw power. She's just pure spite and evil. The gadfly buzzing in the ear, she's throwing herself at our heroes and eating shit in the process. She's such a wonderful bumper which makes it so satisfying when she dies at the hands of Chigusa and Dynamite. Additionally, her heel work is pitch perfect as well, malicious enough to be the first to grab the chain, and constantly use it to her advantage. There's a vileness to how she wields it as well. Using both ends with Masami to choke Kansai, tying her to the ringpost to make her vulnerable, or just good ole fashioned using it to punch someone.
As for Chigusa and Kansai, they feel like absolute worldbeaters. Dynamite's one of the great strikes in joshi history. Every kick feels thudding, and she's no slouch in the charisma department either. It feels good to see her beat the shit out of Ozaki and towards she the end of the match, she's a fantastic support to Chigusa as they double team in an attempt to seal the deal.
As for Chigusa?
Well, one understands why all those kids fell in love with her in the 80s. As a hero for the 90s too, she fills the role so well. Listen to the fans in her big comebacks here, there's still those famed "CHIGUSA! CHIGUSA!" chants– the sign that her fans grew up with her. She stands tall, takes no shit, charges headlong into the fore. Watch the big wind up before she locks in a sleeper, the taunting to the heels demanding their best, and then the selling when she's getting battered by Masami around ringside. When she gets her hands on the villains though, my GOD. Those powerbombs are bone crunching, and Ozaki especially folds right in half for every single one.
The heels steal it from our heroes, and a bloody precedent is set for one of the greatest promotions of all time. How many promotions so emphatically lay claim to their identity from the very first night out and do it at such a high level too? The Era of Honor Begins perhaps? First impressions mean so much, and they really don't get much better than this.
This is GAEA, motherfuckers, welcome to the carnage.
IS IT BETTER THAN 6/3/94? Misawa and Kawada rode along the momentum of the King's Road style approaching its peak. Here, the stars of GAEA create a whole new peak of their own--kicking off a promotion and demanding the attention of the whole world in the process. There's so much heat, violence, and joy bundled up into this tag, the King's Road fellas just can't compete.
Rating: ****1/2