This is a big post today so let's get going!

Kyoko Inoue vs Lioness Asuka (04/29): So these two have had a couple/few acclaimed matches in other companies. I think it was fun but definitely not up to standard set by the others (or so I've heard). Where the best GAEA matches remind me of the best that FMW/ECW offered, this one felt like a TNA match. It was like half the match was Lioness on offense and then the second half was Kyoko. And honestly I don't this Inoue did that much whereas Lioness did some great hardcore style offense. And let's be real, this is a match all about offense and cool spots. Asuka definitely delivered but we got a kind of lazy (or maybe just old & banged up) Kyoko Inoue. It was good but not as good as it could have been.

Akira Hokuto vs Meiko Satomura (04/29): Well this one lives up to the hype. Holy cow, the last classic Akira Hokuto singles match? What I liked here is that 1) It was very stiff...Hokuto set the tone that she wasn't going easy on Satomura and she wasn't done yet. 2) This was a straight match...No interference or weapons which Hokuto hasn't done in like 3-4 years in GAEA. That's significant because she's showing she doesn't need that. 3) Much of this match is focused on wrestling holds...this is very much in the classic late 80's early 90's AJW style. A steady pace with a story based on working holds, wearing the opponent down and going for the kill at the end. 4) Satomura didn't spam her moves...she hasn't done this as much in 2001 (but certainly did enough in '99 vs Kong). Wonderfully Hokuto wouldn't let her. Whether kayfabe or legit (in the middle is usually the truth), Hokuto reigned Meiko's bad singles match habits. Instead of not knowing what to do and rely upon going bicycle kicks and Death Valley's, Satomura was kicking Hokuto in the leg and head ala Yamada, Hotta, Kong Kansai. She finally seemed ready for big time longer singles bouts (she's always been fantastic in tags & shorter fast pace matches... her vs Kato matches for instance). I'll share the link for GAEAism's video below.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dOu0JySr8jA

Next 3 are from 05/13 and are interrelated:

Aja Kong & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Meiko Satomura & Toshie Uematsu: Well that was absolutely badass! For the folks that don't like any of the brawling/weapons stuff - this one is for you. 14 minutes of fantastic wrestling. In some way it was one long sequence but I can't imagine that is the case. I think the familiarity between Aja & Satomura is indeed that good now. Uematsu has levelled up and she definitely belongs in these matches. This was one of the best straight tags I've seen from GAEA in awhile. Near classic-classic match. 

Chikayo Nagashima & Toshie Uematsu vs. Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU: You have to know there's weapons and stuff in this one I don't tire of it because they always keep it interesting. In fact there was a ton of great stuff with KAORU's table halves that I've never seen before. Having the two junior/lucha oriented GAEA girls made for really great spots and sequences... stuff you'd see like in Hardy Boyz, Young Bucks, MCMG, Briscoes etc tags. Another recommendation from me. Great match for sure!

Aja Kong & Dynamite Kansai vs. Meiko Satomura & Chikayo Nagashima: And another great match! The youngsters had their work cut out for them as not only is it their 2nd match each but Kong and Kansai are twice their size. Satomura was on some next level shit with Kong here especially at the start... and frankly this whole series was. This could be considered one match if you want.. like an endurance series or something. If so this is absolutely classic stuff. These 5/13 matches in a way prove just how advanced these 3 GAEA originals are. To me its a shame Sonoko Kato is pretty much out of the picture as she was the best... better than Satomura. I'm not sure if Kato comes back in any capacity (I know she returns to wrestling) but it makes me want to check more of her earlier stuff out. But I'm talking about something else and should be focusing on this match. So yeah this match is great and unique compared to the previous ones. I think that is what makes these so awesome is the mix of match ups.

Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU vs. Lioness Asuka & Sakura Hirota (06/17): Hahaha! Hirota comes out looking like Strawberry Shortcake so KAORU blasts her with her table piece. Hirota drops like a sack of potatoes immediately Even KAORU is laughing afterwards. But soon its all business as Lioness is handcuffed to the ring and Sakura is bloodied. Eventually they get bored with the youngster and toss Asuka the keys. This is really good dramatic stuff with the heel team being ferocious. It was a great little story and Asuka was absolutely amazing especially after they handcuffed her again! Just awesome visuals throughout the match as well. (This sets up a KAORU vs Lioness match but I've heard it just goes on WAY too long so I'll skip that).

Aja Kong & Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Meiko Satomura & Chikayo Nagashima & Toshie Uematsu (06/17): Awesome high energy match! The start with Aja & Satomura is what I'd hoped their previous singles encounters would be like. Everyone looked pretty good. Nagashima & Toshie Uematsu were especially exciting going up against the heavy hitters. Aja Kong was great as ever, trading pinning moves with Uematsu despite her greater size. Speaking of Uematsu, her being in another match like this really means she's getting a good push. This was a great match! Another one to see with these teams.

Meiko Satomura vs Mayumi Ozaki (08/19): A great match with a fantastic opening few minutes. They bordered on overly ambitious but all in all they stayed in the lines and pulled off some really interesting stuff. This felt like pretty darn fresh match up. Satomura is very close to A-level talent in '01. Ozaki brought her A game (this was a relatively straight up match) so this was way better than I expected. And for that I think I may like it more than the Kong vs Satomura singles bouts. Satomura in 2001 has definitely matured as a singles wrestler in the marquee matches.

Mayumi Ozaki vs. Aja Kong (10/28): They cut out a few minutes but this was very good stuff. No new ground was broken but lots of exciting action. This would be a good random GAEA match to watch as an ice breaker. Like, "oh shit they're not over-the-hill" and "this doesn't suck" in contrast to what popular opinion may have been at the time. This is still really good stuff! There's blood and everything

Aja Kong vs Meiko Satomura (12/15): Yeah OK that was pretty good stuff but it felt like their other bouts. Satomura seems to have taken a step back here from her Hokuto and Ozaki bouts. Again there were probably 4 (or more? DVDs)...it's basically a fucking scoop slam at this point Is this Satomura or Kong...I have to think it's Kong calling the shots. Just like it was most likely Oz & Hokuto calling most/all of their matches with Satomura. Arsion and GAEA are known for their shorter matches so really wonder if Aja is rusty on how to layout a long (25 minute) match? There's like 5 minutes that just didn't need to be there. But honestly this was so similar to their other bouts, I'm not sure this whole match didn't need to be more than 10 minutes. There was good ground wrestling and injury story potential that would have made this great or at least different. They just don't seem to do that anymore.

 It just felt long because there were few surprises. Only the beginning felt fresh and awesome...This was just a cookie cutter long title match..much like their 2000 match. I'd rather they just do a 15 minute sprint and keep the good things like the quick beginning, stiffness, the mat wrestling, a couple of the surprising spots. Even if its only "very good ***1/2+" at least we're not sitting through a half hour very good match, right? I think back in the day this was clipped down to 16 minutes so I could see calling this a great match in that form but not knowing what happened in the missing 10 minutes. Some folks have said the full version helps as it sounds like it might be a real bad clip job.

I know this is a rant now. But I think it should be said Kong is not Satomura's best singles opponent contrary to popular opinion. Their tag stuff is top notch and Kong is probably her #1 foe but their singles matches just don't do it for me. Again, this may be Kong plugging Satomura into a "big match formula" that worked against others in the late 90's- 2000s. This may be Meiko afraid to deviate from the plan or just not have enough experience/seniority to mix things up in a 20+ minute singles match. That energy we see in shorter bouts is really what's lacking. I'm watching bits while writing this and it reminds me of a Muto match where there's no urgency between attacks. Kong's best bouts are one's where it looks like she & her foe are trying to kill each other. Don't get me wrong its pretty stiff but there's too much dead air at times. It feels like a trip amusement park train...it's moving at a speed so you're aware of toward motion but not enough that you feel a thrill. There's no real ups and downs. Its amusing but not exciting.

And Satomura needs some mid level offense (a suplex, body kicks, a DDT for instance)...I'm watching this and Meiko stops Aja's offensive run by axe kicking her from up on the apron (Aja is standing on the floor) - this is one of the awesome surprises! It's brutal as Meiko has so much force as her foot/heel is traveling like 100° and coming crashing down on Aja's head and neck. But then she has Kong stunned on the floor and can follow up. She could throw her back in ring and capitalize on this massive attack. She could do a diving stomp from the apron onto Kong on the floor. She hops down and does a fucking Death Valley Driver!? It's sick but doesn't she want to win the match in the ring? Now if she wants to inflict max damage but still eventually get the pin that's when you have a mid level move like a vertical suplex, a DDT, a back drop/back suplex. I think a piledriver would be good here for instance. She has no mid level offense in these Kong matches. Kong sells this but then Satomura follows this up (her finisher on the floor) with throwing chairs on her. Kong essentially brushes this all off and goes back to offense I looked at Kong's face and I really think she was frustrated. They're only half way through and she just took a finisher on the concrete... 'what the hell!? We've got 10 more minutes to go and you (Satomura) have no idea where to go now.'

I'm making a point here because the Satomura vs Kong singles stuff is what GAEA is known for in the community. And it's not even GAEA's best stuff. It's not Kong or Satomura's best stuff in GAEA. It actually seems like their worst stuff in a way. They are in the position to work a 25 minute match in a company that does 10-15 minute matches. Satomura does not have the experience to logically work a match this long. She needs guidance. With guidance she can do excellent work (see Hokuto & Ozaki matches above). Kong either cannot or does not want to guide Satomura. As in, "you're in the big time now Meiko, you need to figure this out on your own." There's a few instances where Satomura is making decisions in real time and Kong vetos in response. Like, "wtf are you thinking"...Hopefully I made my point. And hey I'm just speaking for myself. You check it out! There is still a lot to like...you might see things differently.

I can't end this post like that though...

Chigusa Nagayo & Aja Kong vs Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda (12/24): Joined in progress. Not sure how much we missed but a nice return to form. Quick pace, nice assortment of moves, plenty aggressive.. it's a very good tag match. Maybe its too quick not enough selling etc. but it doesn't overstay it's welcome & there are nice surprises (we get that in tags of course). About 9 minutes shown. Obviously I'm comparing this to the above match because I'm making sure I'm not burnt out or mistaken. I feel much better wrapping up with this. 

2001 is definitely the year Chigusa wants to really push the homegrown stars to the top of the company. Satomura really knocked it out of the park even though she still needs work to be the ace. GAEA absolutely kills it with their tag matches and continues to do so in 2001.

So there we have it for GAEA for now! GAEAism YouTube is currently loading up more 2002 stuff and while I don't have a ton in store for 2002, 1) I'm always adding more as I go 2) They don't even have all of the few things I have on my to-watch list. So I'm going to have to give them some time So very thankful that they are posting all of this stuff!

I might check out some stuff from 95-97 GAEA that I overlooked earlier. We'll see

Thanks for reading!