KAORU/Yamada vs. Etsuko Mita/Mima Shimoda - GAEA (4/4/99 - Street Fight)
Top Joshi Matches of the 90s - Match #19

Reviewed by Pogo Pete - DVDVR#99
"Just a huge brawl from start to finish.  Cachorrus dominate the first several minutes after Yamada accidentally takes out KAORU with a kick; Shimoda ejects Yamada as well and follows with her Mita-assisted tope con hilo.
Mita follows with a tope on Yamada, who got bloodied up at some point not caught on camera.  Yamada and KAORU get thrown back into the ring and get set up for the railing dive, but Yamada and KAORU are playing possum and they quickly take out the Cachorrus.  KAORU then slams Mita and Shimoda down, sets a row of chairs on top of  them, and Yamada gives them a taste of their own medicine with a railing ride of her own! KAORU (also juicing; did GAORA hire the AAA camera crew for this one?) gives Shimoda two brainbusters onto a chair and follows up with Excalibur, but Mita makes the save.  Mita holds KAORU for Shimoda, but KAORU ducks and Mita eats a punch. Shimoda comes back and hits her Aussie (Tiger) suplex on KAORU for 2.  Mita comes in and goes for the DVD; KAORU flips out of it, but Shimoda comes in and chairs her. Shimoda tries it a second time but KAORU ducks and Mita takes the chair instead. KAORU's Excalibur gets 2 after she FUBAR's her quebrada.  Yamada comes in and goes for her Reverse Gorry Special Bomb; Mita gets out of it and Shimoda comes off the top, but Yamada sees this coming and lays her out with a kick.  She goes for it again; Mita gets behind her, but KAORU comes off the ropes with a clothesline on her.  Yamada goes for her kick off the top, but Shimoda chairs her leg on the way down.  Tommy Ran tries to get the chair out of the ring, but while she does so Shimoda dropkicks Yamada into the chair and KO's Ran.  Yamada finally hits the RGSB but Ran can't make the count in time. Yamada goes for the RGSB again; Mita flips around and hits the DVD, but Yamada no-sells (!) and gives Mita a nasty kick for 2.  Mita gets up and gives Yamada two straight DVDs, but KAORU makes the save.  Yamada downs Shimoda with a spin kick and tags KAORU who hits her Valkyrie Splash (moonsault into senton), but Mita saves.  Mita accidentally hits Shimoda with her Blazing Chop and Yamada heads up top, but Shimoda moves and Yamada gives KAORU her kick by mistake.  Shimoda gives KAORU the axe kick but Yamada saves.  Mita wraps Yamada up while Shimoda hits the Death Lake Driver on KAORU, who kicks out.  All four venture onto the runway, where KAORU gives Yamada a quebrada after the Cachorrus move.  Shimoda and Yamada brawl all the way back to the interview area and back while Mita gives KAORU a DVD on the runway; they then line KAORU and Yamada up on the runway so Shimoda can give them a revenge railing ride on the runway (say THAT five times fast =P).  Yamada and KAORU get tossed inside and get lined up for another railing ride; Ran tries to stop them only to get squashed as well.  Mita gives KAORU another DVD and Shimoda hits her with a rolling guillotine legdrop; Ran staggers over to make the cover, but Mita knocks her away for not being quick enough. Cachorrus hit KAORU with everything in their playbook but she either kicks out or gets saved.  KAORU finally makes her comeback and hits her quebrada off the *light standard* on the floor onto the Cachorrus!  Yamada hits a flip dive onto everyone on the floor.  In-ring KAORU hits the Excalibur on Shimoda but Mita saves.  Yamada takes Mita out while KAORU hits a leg lariat on Shimoda.  Yamada heads over and takes Shimoda's head off with a kick, which allows KAORU to hit two straight Excaliburs and IMPLODE Shimoda with a running Excalibur for the pin at 38:27.  Just an amazing brawl that never ends... this'll make someone's MOTYC list for sure based on all of the action, and you get the added bonus of emotional closure to the old Yamada-KAORU rivalry."

Reviewed by Dean Rasmussen - DVDVR Delta
The KAORU/Yamada vs. Shimoda/Mita match was SSSOOOOOOOOOO close to being  match of the year. Hell, in terms of sheer fun (and that's what we here in Death Valley Land are all about) this WAS the match of the year. My only technical beef is that the whole rail ride stuff just doesn't look real painful but is a large part of the match anyway, that and everyone tended to randomly sell at points. KAORU is so fucking awesome as she goes the extra mile to make this fucker rule: the scaffold moonsault, the Excalibers, the 19 alarm bladejob- all this plus the fact that she carried the body of the match so that the now-physically limited Yamada looked more effective as she could exert in spurts and kick the super hot Mima and Mita right in the face without having to do beyond what she is physically capable of now. KAORU and Yamada are the most underrated tagteam in wrestling. They bring an tough heavyweight edge to GAEA that makes this feud five layers deeper and that translates to the ass-stomping they dish out to Mima and Mita after taking a duel-blade-worthy ass-kicking themselves. There are wads to love in this match. Plus Mima wore tiny enough pants to warrant an extra star. ALLLRIGHT! I'm a pig! WOO-HOO! Plus the ending was motherfucking awesome. SEEE THIS! GO AND GET THIS!