[2000-09-15-GAEA-Double Destiny] Aja Kong & Dynamite Kansai vs Crush Gals

[soup23]

Damn, if I still am not all in on these Crush Gals tag matches. Much like the May match, I am consistently amazed at how they are without a doubt a nostalgic act that drew the big house but they don't rest on their laurels and still produce a pretty awesome match. Kansai and Kong are presented as these two monsters that have dominated joshi over the past 10 years. Kansai gives her best performance of the year and Aja held nothing back in her completely boss white gear. Crush Gals getting the pin was a result that was never in doubt but one that did work for me in execution in them having to work together and capitalize on the tiny opening they were afforded. **** (7.8)

[Timbo Slice]

The one thing I was trying to figure out was who was going to take the fall between Kansai and Aja and having Aja take it to really put Crush 2000 over was a big play, of course, but this was a great sprint, even if the near falls went into overkill towards the end. The Towerhacker Bomb near fall was fantastic, and the sense of urgency towards the end for Crush to try and get the win was terrific. Aja and Kansai dominating was great, really made the end pay off, even if the booking was not in doubt. Fun match.

[ohtani's jacket]

I saw the 00s incarnation of the Crush Girls live which was a fun live wrestling experience. I imagine this match was also fun. Watching a match live you can enjoy the crowd response and get suckered into the near falls whereas on tape the action tends to come across as a movie and it's easy to slip into a more analytical way of thinkng about the match. From a critic's point of view, I thought this was a high energy sprint with some cool shit in it. The thing that stood out most was Kansai's work. In years gone by I would have watched this match and lamented the fact that Kansai wasn't as good as her JWP heyday. But watching this 2000 footage I've accepted the fact that she's past her prime and now I'm looking at her work from a different perspective. Her work wasn't as good as the other women in the match but it was next stage Dynamite Kansai and that's something I haven't really appreciated before. I thought Chigusa looked good and I liked Aja's personal battle with Lioness Asuka. The uraken spots were cool and Aja eating the pinfall at the end was wild. Main events should be spectacles and there was a pretty good one.

[dawho5]

I was never a big Joshi guy before.  Well, when I was into the flash of it upon first discovering it I was.  Then I started to see some of the tropes that get way overused.  Like the screaming and the using finishers over and over and over again.  I kind of get that second part for Aja's backfist.  It's more of a "progressive" finisher thing.  Really good action in this match with the Crush Girls really bringing the spunk to counter the big girls.  I liked how they used a lot of double teams to keep things going their direction as a point of the psychology.

I'm starting to see joshi in a better light again BTW.

[TheBean]

So this match is a result of the 07/22 Sonoko Kato return post match segment. And it's a dream match come true. Sure everyone is getting long in the tooth but GAEA is smart keeping things under 20 minutes. This way everyone can do their thing and still keep it intense. I thought this was a great tag match full of big moves, believable false finishes and spectacle. Because, this was a match about spectacle more than anything... Crush Gals continue their reunion tour taking on the baddest of the bad asses of the 90's. I think if Chigusa and Kansai were in better shape (health re: Kansai) then this could have been a classic. But that's taking nothing away from this match. This is just simple big time wrestling done right.