GAEA Japan “Come On Hurry! XMAS Fighting” on 12/23/95 Review

Event: GAEA Japan “COME ON HURRY! XMAS FIGHTING”
Date: December 23rd, 1995
Location: Tokyo Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan
Announced Attendance: 2,050

Over the next eternity, I will be watching and reviewing all GAEA Japan events in order, starting with their debut show on April 15th, 1995. Visit the GAEA Japan Project page for a brief history of the promotion, the roster page, my favorite matches from the promotion, and the full list of all events reviewed. I will also be uploading my favorite match from each show so that everyone can enjoy it.

If you want to watch the GAEA Japan events I am reviewing, Mike Lorefice sells the complete seasons at a very reasonable price both via download and physical copy. Mike’s quebrada.net is one of the sites I’m using to write these reviews, its a great resource for learning more about GAEA Japan and wrestling in general.

We have finally reached the final event of 1995! That took awhile. GAEA Japan returns to Korakuen Hall for their pre-Christmas show, with a big main event as Chigusa Nagayo takes on Combat Toyoda. We also get the first appearance by the legendary FMW wrestler Megumi Kudo here as well, as Team FMW takes on Team GAEA Japan. Three of the matches were shown on the one hour broadcast, here are the matches:

• Chihiro Nakano vs. Chikayo Nagashima 
• KAORU, Meiko Satomura, and Toshie Uematsu vs. Megumi Kudo, Kaori Nakayama, and Yukari Ishikura
• Chigusa Nagayo vs. Combat Toyoda
  

The main event in particular should be interesting as Chigusa Nagayo tends to bring her best when defending her home turf, although Toyoda isn’t always easy to work with. All the wrestlers have profiles on Joshi City, you can click on their names above to go straight to it.

Chihiro Nakano vs. Chikayo Nagashima
We start, as most GAEA Japan events tend to, with a rookie battle! This match is part of the Neo Energy Queen History ’95 Tournament, which lasted forever (until April 1996) and included the rookies from the promotion. Many of the matches from the tournament didn’t make TV, hence why I am not really focusing on it too much. Chikayo Nagashima you may know as she still wrestles to this day, while Chihiro Nakano retired in May of 2000 having never won a title.

Chikayo and Chihiro circle each other to start, back bodydrop by Chihiro but Chikayo trips her and delivers a stomp. Chihiro gets Chikayo’s ankle but Chikayo slides away and hits a scoop slam. Kicks by Chikayo and she hits a few snapmares before applying a crossface. Chihiro gets into the ropes for the break but Chikayo applies a side headlock, Chihiro gets out of it and hits a scoop slam for two. Crab hold by Chihiro and she grabs Chikayo’s arm to further stretch her, armbar by Chihiro but Chikayo gets to the ropes. Chihiro elbows Chikayo’s arm and goes for across armbreaker, but Chikayo blocks it. Chikayo kicks Chihiro away and hits a pair of dropkicks, but Chihiro bridges out of the pin. Crossface by Chikayo, she throws Chihiro into the corner but Chihiro avoids her charge and pushes Chikayo out of the ring. Chihiro goes out after her but Chikayo moves when Chihiro goes for a knee, and Chihiro collides with the guard rail. Chikayo slides Chihiro back in and puts her in an ankle hold, but Chihiro gets to the ropes for the break. Snapmare by Chikayo and she goes back to Chihiro’s leg, but Chihiro recovers and returns the favor as she goes for Chikayo’s leg as well.

Chikayo gets into the ropes, Chihiro picks her up but Chikayo hits a crossbody for two. Chikayo throws down Chihiro by the hair and hits a dropkick, scoop slam by Chikayo and she covers Chihiro for another two count. Front roll by Chikayo but Chihiro catches her and they trade quick pins. Back up, Stunner by Chikayo and she hits an Ace Crusher for two. Chikayo throws Chihiro into the corner but Chihiro jumps up the turnbuckles and hits a sunset flip for two. Chihiro goes for Chikayo’s leg but Chikayo quickly grabs the ropes, running knees by Chihiro and she covers Chikayo for a two count. Jumping knee in the corner by Chihiro but she accidentally flies out of the ring in the process, she quickly gets back in the ring and hits a scoop slam for two. Chihiro slams Chikayo in front of the corner, she goes up top and hits a diving kneedrop, but Chikayo kicks out of the cover again. She goes for Chikayo’s knee but Chikayo gets to the ropes, Chihiro picks up Chikayo but Chikayo snaps off a Corbata for the three count! Chikayo Nagashima wins the match!

They certainly get an A for effort, they were going all out in this match. Not always effectively, but they tried. The story was loose at best so its easier watching these matches remembering both are rookies, so you wouldn’t expect rookie wrestlers even in fake-world to have a real plan on winning. They are just doing the best they can with their limited knowledge. So even though it was all over the place, it was exciting and interesting throughout so its hard to have too many complaints. All things considered, a pretty entertaining way to kick off the TV airing.  Mildly Recommended

KAORU, Meiko Satomura, and Uematsu vs. Megumi Kudo, Nakayama, and Yukari Ishikura
Time for a promotional war, as GAEA Japan defends their home turf against FMW. FMW and GAEA Japan have been going at it for months, since GAEA Japan has such a small roster they depend on using wrestlers from FMW and JWP to help fill up their cards. The most notable thing here is that this is the first appearance by Megumi Kudo in GAEA Japan, who today is considered a legend for her matches in FMW. Here she won’t be doing anything legendary as part of a six woman tag, but this is still a fun combination of wrestlers and it should be a good match.

Meiko and Yukari start the match, armdrag by Meiko but Yukari puts her in a headscissors. Kaori runs in and they hit a double dropkick onto Meiko, Yukari tags in Kaori and she dropkicks Meiko again. Another dropkick by Kaori and she applies an armbar, she tags in KAORU and KAORU continues on Meiko’s arm. Yukari returns as Team FMW takes turns on Meiko’s arm, but knocks her back and makes the tag to Toshie. Dropkick by Toshie to Yukari and she rams her into the turnbuckles before applying a chinlock. Side headlock by Toshie and she puts Yukari in a Indian Deathlock, she tags in KAORU as Meiko comes in as well so they can all boot Yukari. Meiko and Toshie both come off the top with attacks to Yukari’s arm, arm wringer by KAORU to Yukari and she tags in Meiko. Meiko goes for a cross armbreaker but Kaori breaks it up, dropkick by Meiko to Yukari and she covers her for two. Meiko tags Toshie, Toshie stays on Yukari’s arm before delivering a jumping kick to her face. Yukari comes back with a dropkick and tags in Kudo, crossbody by Kudo to Toshie and she hits a scoop slam. Kudo stretches Toshie and puts her in a camel clutch, Yukari and Kaori run in and stomp on Toshie while she is on the hold.

Kaori is tagged in, stomps to the leg by Kaori and she twists on Toshie’s leg. Kudo returns and puts Toshie in a figure four but Meiko breaks it up, Kudo slaps Meiko and goes back to Toshie as she throws her into the mat. She tags in Kaori, face crushers by Kaori but Toshie sneaks in an inside cradle for two. This gives her time to tag in KAORU, front dropkick by KAORU to Kaori and she puts her in a Camel Clutch. Meiko and Toshie come in and take turns dropkicking Kaori while she is in the hold, Mexican Surfboard by KAORU but Kudo eventually breaks it up. KAORU tags Meiko, elbows by Meiko and she covers Kaori for two. Kaori comes back with a Space Rolling Elbow but Meiko hits a running elbow smash and applies the cross armbreaker. Yukari quickly breaks it up, scoop slam by Meiko and KAORU goes up top to attempt a moonsault. Kaori moves out of the way however, Kudo dropkicks KAORU from behind and plants KAORU with a backdrop suplex. Kaori goes up top and hits a moonsault onto KAORU, she tags in Kudo and Kudo boots KAORU in the face. Enzuigiri by Kudo, she goes up top but Toshie grabs her from the apron. That gives KAORU time to recover, she gets Kudo on her shoulders but Kudo slides off and puts KAORU in a dragon sleeper.

That quickly gets broken up, Kudo picks up KAORU but Toshie and Meiko run in an dropkick her. Double missile dropkick by Meiko and Toshie, KAORU picks up Kudo and hits a leg clutch backdrop suplex hold for two. Scoop slam by KAORU and she nails the swandive moonsault, but Kaori breaks up the cover. KAORU tags Toshie, Meiko comes in too and all three attack Kudo in the corner. Toshie charges Kudo but Kudo puts her in a sleeper hold, she swings Toshie around while in the hold before dropping her to the mat. She tags in Yukari, dropkick by Yukari in the corner and Kaori hits a Space Rolling Elbow. Face crusher by Kudo, Yukari goes up top but Toshie recovers and joins her. Yukari pushes Toshie away and hits an avalanche sunset flip, but Meiko breaks up the cover. Kaori comes in and they double team Toshie, but again her cover is broken up. Kaori hits a diving crossbody on Toshie, Yukari goes up top as Kudo holds Toshie, but KAORU hits a swandive dropkick onto Kudo. Yukari dives off anyway but Toshie gets out of the way, Toshie crucifixes Yukari from behind and she picks up the three count! Team GAEA Japan wins!

I wouldn’t say this was the most fluid and smooth match, but it was fun. The rookies got confused a few times, which isn’t incredibly unusual, but they kept the pace up. Megumi Kudo, to the surprise of no one, controlled the match and team GAEA Japan was only able to win by getting a flash pin after knocking Kudo out of the way for a moment. Lots of style, a little bit of substance, but generally speaking they all came out of it looking fine and it made me want to see Megumi Kudo in a bigger match as she brought something a bit different to the table than we have seen recently in GAEA Japan.  Mildly Recommended

Chigusa Nagayo vs. Combat Toyoda
In a special main event, Chigusa Nagayo battles FMW’s monster wrestler Combat Toyoda. Even though FMW and GAEA Japan had been feuding for months before this, this is the first time that Combat Toyoda wrestled in GAEA Japan. They did share the ring together in FMW a few months prior, however in that match they were actually a team together against Shark Tsuchiya and her minions. Even without much buildup, Combat Toyoda was a big enough deal to skip straight to the money match with the GAEA Japan legend, and she came into the match with the FMW Independent Women’s Championship and the WWA Women’s Championship (no titles were on the line here). Even though Chigusa Nagayo out-ranked Toyoda in the grand scheme of Joshi wrestling, Combat Toyoda had only lost one singles match in 1995 coming into this match, so beating her was far from an automatic result.

We join this match in progress, with Nagayo working over Toyoda’s leg on the mat. Figure four by Nagayo but Toyoda rolls to the ropes and grabs them to force a break. Scorpion Deathlock by Nagayo but again Toyoda gets to the ropes, kicks by Nagayo and she headbutts Toyoda, but Toyoda hulks up and absorbs the blows. Toyoda headbutts Nagayo repeatedly and they reach a stalemate, headbutt by Nagayo but Toyoda blocks the slam attempt. Nagayo finally manages to hit the slam, she challenges Toyoda to try to slam her back and Toyoda manages to do so. Vertical suplex by Toyoda, she covers Nagayo but it only gets two. Scorpion Deathlock by Toyoda but Nagayo gets out of it and rolls out of the ring, she returns after a moment but Toyoda tackles her soon after. Nagayo goes for Toyoda’s arm from the bottom and gets an armbar applied, Toyoda gets to the ropes so Nagayo picks her up and hits a heel kick.

She goes for another one but Toyoda catches her and hits a backdrop suplex, another backdrop suplex by Toyoda and she delivers a missile dropkick. Nagayo falls out of the ring, Toyoda goes up to the top turnbuckle and dives out onto her with crossbody to the floor. Toyoda goes to get back in the ring but Nagayo grabs her from behind and hits a backdrop suplex onto the floor. Now it is Nagayo that goes up and dives out of the ring onto Toyoda with a crossbody, she gets back into the ring and waits for Toyoda to recover. Toyoda eventually returns, Nagayo goes for a powerbomb but Toyoda blocks it. Head kicks by Nagayo but Toyoda fires back with a lariat, German suplex by Nagayo and she goes up top, delivering a diving heel kick. Cover by Nagayo, but it gets a two count. Nagayo puts Toyoda on the top turnbuckle and joins her, hitting an avalanche DDT for another two.

Nagayo goes for a kick but Toyoda catchers her leg and elbows her in the knee, she does it a second time and puts Nagayo in a sleeper. Nagayo backs Toyoda into the corner to get out of the hold, high kick by Nagayo and she gets on the turnbuckles, but Toyoda joins her and hits an avalanche backdrop suplex for a two count. Scoop slam by Toyoda, she goes up top and nails a diving body press for another two. Toyoda puts Nagayo on the top turnbuckle with Nagayo facing the crowd, Toyoda gets up with her and slams her back into the ring, but Nagayo gets a shoulder up on the cover. Nagayo recovers first and puts Toyoda in a sleeper, but Toyoda crawls to the ropes and gets there for the break. Elbow by Nagayo, she goes for the powerbomb but Toyoda lariats her to the mat. Toyoda gets on the second turnbuckle but Nagayo kicks her from behind, she gets Toyoda on her back and she nails the Running Three for the three count pinfall! Chigusa Nagayo is the winner!

We missed about half the match, so we basically went straight to the meat of the match and didn’t see how they introduced it. From what we saw, this was a very… Chigusa Nagayo match. If you like things such as selling big spots and transitions, this is not the match for you as they blew off things that usually have no business being blown off. Toyoda is really good at the hardcore style but an average “normal” match wrestler, I almost wish they had gone to more of a brawl style as it probably would have been a better match. It still had some drama and memorable sections, the effort was there to put on something special, but the work was lacking at times. I still liked it as I am a big Chigusa Nagayo fan and it did have the big match feel, I just wish it was a more cohesive match as not everything clicked.  Mildly Recommended