[1997-01-19-GAEA] Mayumi Ozaki & Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs Chigusa Nagayo & Sonoko Kato & Meiko Satomura

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

FLIK's #5 GAEA match of the year. This was really good, but I felt like Chigusa dragged this match down at times. I usually like her, but she works like she's lost a few steps from her prime, and she is physically awkward in a way I've never seen from her before. She's not really "old" at 32, but she seemed old, if that makes sense. I hated her wiping the floor with Ozaki so much early on, but I changed my tune on that when Oz's team started building some heat later on.

 

I was really glad Ozaki's team won at the end. I was rooting for them the entire time. Ozaki, by the way, is so good it's ridiculous in this match. She's working like a total veteran at this point, but she's young enough that she hasn't lost a step physically either. This isn't her best match by any means, but it may be one of her standout performances.

 

This was my first glimpse at some of the wrestlers who will pop up a lot in future years like Satomura and Nagashima, and they looked really good in this, even if they weren't the focus here. Oz/Satomura is a singles match that seems like it would be good. But one thing that is clear here is that while everyone is fundamentally strong and is playing their part in the overall storyline just fine, Ozaki is the only one that really has her entire act (ringwork and character) down pat. I hope we get to see personalities from some of the younger wrestlers as this set and future sets progress. Here, Ozaki's personality made her head and shoulders above everyone else in the match.

 

I like that they are using the feud between Oz and Chig to let the others rub shoulders with the big names and create a few new stars. Hopefully that continues.

[ohtani's jacket]

Ozaki's acting was phenomenal around this time. The whole pledging angle where she keeps rejecting Amano was great TV. The birth of OZ Academy and the rise of GAEA were maybe things that weren't captured that much on earlier yearbooks, but it looks like there's a fair bit of it on this one. I think it helps to keep it in the perspective of weekly TV rather than hoping for great matches because it was mostly fun post-boom weekly TV. Also, Ozaki falls off a cliff quality wise after '97. Her '99 GAEA stuff is better than her 21st century work but I'm not sure she was ever the same after Plum died.

[FLIK]

She's working like a total veteran at this point, but she's young enough that she hasn't lost a step physically either.

She's 10+ years in at this point

 

Oz/Satomura is a singles match that seems like it would be good

Yeah they've had a few good ones, though they never peaked beyond that lvl. A million amazingly great tags opposite each other though

 

I like that they are using the feud between Oz and Chig to let the others rub shoulders with the big names and create a few new stars. Hopefully that continues.

OZ Academy angle was the best example up to this point but GAEA was always heavily about Vet/Rookie vs Vet/Rookie feuds in the early days. GAEA vs JWP, GAEA vs LLPW, GAEA vs JWP, etc... Devil & _ vs Chigusa & _ usually ruled around this time.

 

I think it helps to keep it in the perspective of weekly TV rather than hoping for great matches because it was mostly fun post-boom weekly TV.

Yes & no. There's tons of GAEA that's great viewed out of context but the overall package with the booking leading up to the big matches is their big strength yeah.

 

Also, Ozaki falls off a cliff quality wise after '97.

I'd disagree but that depends entirely on how much you enjoy over the top joshi brawling heel act as Ozaki's maybe the best at it or atleast best since Dump.

[WingedEagle]

Oz is probably one of the handful of stars I'm most looking forward to seeing on later comps as I absolutely can't get enough of her early/mid 90s work. I know where most of the joshi love in that period went, and not without good reason, but she always stood out.

[Childs]

I liked Ozaki and Nagayo as the veteran cruise directors for their respective teams. But this match lost its dramatic tension for me. I sort of zoned out on the treadmill and looked up after a few minutes to see that small women were still running around doing things.

[soup23]

This match had some cool moments. I was fine with chigusa. It was cool seeing Meiko and Chikayo do their thing for the first time on the yearbook. I especially liked the mini choking and grappling match that Chigusa and Oz did around 10 minutes in. However, unfortunately this also didnt seem to have much direction at points. Oz is getting her ass kicked and they are building up dramatic tension and two minutes later she is powerbombing people through tables inside the ring. Heat felt pretty blah for this. Finishing stretch was good with Oz trying to put Chigusa away but overall this left me wanting more. Finish was cool with Sato looking vicious with leg lock.

[Grimmas]

I've always wanted to watch GAEA, but this is the first time.

I love six person tags and this was a heck of a lot of fun. I loved the ending stretch with the tables and the heels? dominating, but not being able to put them away and finally being caught in a submission. A really fun match, *** 1/2.

[PeteF3]

This was good, though there were better matches in '96 from GAEA. Ozaki getting her ass kicked really does feel like justice served if you watch the '96 stuff, as that year was all about Oz Academy running roughshod over everybody, just as Kaientai was doing for MPro and the NWO in WCW. Most of the story here was about Nagayo and her troupe not taking this shit anymore and dishing out to Oz Academy what they'd been giving the previous year. That continues with Nagayo doing a Hulk-Up as Ozaki is beating on her, a spot Ozaki did several times with Nagayo's young partners. All of that still isn't enough, as Satomura still does the job in the end. Not sure where it goes but they're certainly building up to a huge moment when Oz Academy finally loses a match with Ozaki involved.

[KB8]

Well joshi is three for three in the month of January and I guess I liked this more than the rest of you. I thought it was borderline great and it's the most I've enjoyed Ozaki in years. I struggle with her more than any of the other highly-praised joshi workers, but I'm with Loss in thinking she was really good here. Even as someone who isn't usually bothered about execution I sometimes find her stuff hard to buy, as it'll veer more towards sloppy bad rather than sloppy reckless. Here she hit pretty much everything well, and even if she whiffed a few things there was a scrappy element to it. Matching up against Chigusa she basically had to ramp up the stiffness a bit and when her strikes didn't look good Chigusa could viably shrug them off anyway. There were a few moments where they got involved in super rough and uncooperative exchanges and I loved Ozaki just slapping Chigusa's partners in the face when they tried to interject. That happened during one of the floor brawling segments as Satomura came to get her a piece and Ozaki just pie-faced her really hard. She also threw an absolute corker of a back fist at one point, coming out of nowhere and getting an audible "holy shit" out of me. It's been ages since I've watched any Chigusa but I thought she was a really fun tank in this. It made sense for her to absorb more hits than her partners and the spot where Nagashima and Sato finally managed to take her out felt like a significant moment. There was one punt to Ozaki's head that was ridiculous as well. All four of the younger girls ranged from decent to really good and the nature of the match helped everything feel frantic rather than overly go-go-go. This might be the earliest Satomura I've seen and I thought she looked first class, especially when she was stepping to Ozaki. Team Chiggy going about business with a clear chip on their shoulders added a cool dynamic to this as well and a few times Chigusa would smack someone in the face and flip the finger to her partners. I could've done without the plunder towards the end, but it didn't last long and we got a couple brutal bumps out of it, so I can deal. I'll usually always get something out of a wild six-person tag, and whether it was my lowish expectations going in or not, this gave me more than I figured and I enjoyed it a lot. I certainly liked it more than anything Ozaki was involved in on the '96 yearbook.