[2000-05-14-GAEA-5th Anniversary Show] The Crush Gals vs Devil Masami & Akira Hokuto

[soup23]

Reunions in wrestling can be tricky. Especially when it is 10+ years like this one. I still remember how excited I was to see Vince McMahon and Bret Hart have their in ring confrontation on 1/4/10 and how that immediately evaporated when I saw just how much of a shell Hart was. This match reminded me of going to a Pearl Jam or other rock concert in current day. Eddie Vedder isn't going to be jumping off any scaffolding just like Devil and Chigusa aren't going to produce the ****3/4 classic they did in 1985. Eddie forgets some lyrics and we laugh along just like we do when some of the Crush Gals double teams aren't executed quite as cleanly as you would hope. That being said, this did a good job of bringing everything together. The interference on the outside from Ozaki was minimal and Hokuto and Masami do use their sword weapons at multiple times but that kind of creates a tougher heel for the Gals to climb. Masami in particular was probably my favorite competitor in the match with her facials still being on point. Both Chigusa and Lioness blade which adds peril to the proceedings and I actually thought the match built in a way where I was unsure who was going to actually win. The crowd is really hot and excited to see Lioness and Chigusa team up. Overall, this was a big success for me but I understand YMMV. I don't need to see the promotion built around these two going forward but for this night, they were queens of the ring. ****