[1996-09-16-GAEA-Break Out!] Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs Sonoko Kato & Toshie Uematsu

[PeteF3]

Talk about it here.

[PeteF3]

Terrific match! Probably the #2 GAEA match of the year so far. Uematsu has fully taken over Sakie Hasegawa's spot as joshi's Ricky Morton, except she's already better offensively than either Morton or Sakie. Just full of energy. The pace is pure joshi but the layout is almost Crockett-esque, between the babyface double-teams and heel cut-offs, cheating, and double-teams of their own. There's also a crowd-brawling segue in here where Uematsu even gets to show off a bit of a mean streak, so maybe she's joshi's Brian Pillman instead.

 

Loss mentioned that GAEA didn't make the set because they couldn't find a Lorefice/PUNQ/whoever rating higher than ***1/2. That's perfectly fair, as that's about where I'd top out on my ratings of the best matches of '96. It can't touch AJW's highs, but the young talent in the promotion seems to have lots more promise than AJW's, the crowds are hotter, and the action is more consistent if not nearly as high-end.

[Zenjo]

From a time of golden promise with so many youngsters starting off on the right track. For these 4 girls it really was a BRAKE OUT!

 

I couldn't believe this only lasted 15m as they fitted so much in. Started off with brawling over the arena before spilling into the ring. Kato had her knee attacked with a chair. In hindsight not the best idea. The injury was worked over before an elongated tornado stretch. It was super action and the jakked crowd added to the excitement. It's amazing what they were doing with their inexperience. There were moments where that showed and there was sloppiness. Without it we are talking a top 5 women's match for '96 it was that damn hot. Super fun.