Forever Forward Fridays

Crush Gals VS Akira Hokuto/Devil Masami - GAEA 05/14/2000

JJZ: The madness that is this match is hard to put into words. My wrestling viewing has been down recently and matches like this make me want to go down a squared circle wormhole for the rest of the day. Wild, stiff, a little sloppy (nothing wrong with that) are all ways I'd describe the match. Many times I said "Jesus!" out loud. Also saw a few things I've never seen before. The crowd was great and made the tension in the arena come through the screen! The non stop action made for a what the fuck is gonna happen next viewing experience. I couldn't see how this was gonna go home so for me the finish was perfect. I'm super curious if you've seen this before. If not hope you enjoy as much as I did.

CJD: You sent me this match the same week you sent me a deathmatch to watch and I definitely didn't expect this to be the wilder of the two matches. But boy was it ever. The Crush Gals have recently reunited for the first time in years and are main eventing GAEA's 5th Anniversary show in front of 9,000 fans. To answer your question no I haven't seen this before as early 2000s joshi is definitely a blind spot for me but right off the bat that says a ton about the historical significance all 4 of these women have in Japanese pro wrestling. This match is so all over the place I don't even know what to say about it. There were times I was kind of over it, but then it would hook me back in. By the end it's just too damn entertaining. I feel like there's an American influence on this match, like a big RAW main event or even ECW, but then with all the joshi legacy and storytelling that these women bring. It wrapped up like the ending of a blockbuster action movie. This one really took me on a ride!

Forever Forward Fridays

Mayumi Ozaki VS Akira Hokuto - JWP Thunder Battle Queen in Yokohama II 11/18/1993

CJD: John last week you talked about those matches that you are on the fence about for the first half but hook you for the second half. Well this was a different type of hot and cold match for me, Act 1 I was all in, Act 2 not so much, Act 3 brought things home nicely enough that I still enjoyed the ride overall. Watching more Ozaki she has a ton of charisma, even in a field of GOAT joshi wrestlers in her generation, but she definitely suffers from some of the tendencies I don't love about the style. Hokuto is one of those GOAT peers though and especially excels in big match settings so she helps reign in some moments of this one that go off the rails a bit. Phil talked about the traditional joshi narrative last week and what I like most about this match is how it's a heated interpromotional match like we've seen the Dangerous Queen in many times over but it's not pandemonium from start to finish like we often would expect. The nasty competitive edge is there but this is more of a pot that's simmering forever but you can never tell when it's going to boil over. So it skirts the line of that traditional joshi psychology but I think still presents something pretty different. And there are some little moments that I won't spoil but really drive home what great personalities both of these women are. And man I really loved those first 8 minutes or so. Very curious what you think about this one!

JJZ: Now this is the wild ass Joshi I was first used to. Quick, stiff, a little sloppy (not knocking it) with random technical work. Love it! Also love the foot biting spot again!!! This match has a charm to it I can't really put into words. To me it's just joshi and I Iove the ride it takes me on. There is beauty in the madness that this match brings. The rapidness of it really confuses me to the point that I can't not watch every single second. The anything you can do I can do better back and forth leaves you wondering what the fuck is next. Great crowd btw. Both ladies sell very well and make me say by the end what is it gonna take to finish one of them off??