I don't think I've seen much GAEA Hokuto. It would be unfair to compare '97 Hokuto to peak AJW Hokuto, but even if she's not at that level it looks like she was still pretty great at this point in her career. Conversely, Maiko Matsumoto is very pitiful at this point in her career. If you're familiar with these participants then you've got a decent idea of how this went. Hokuto and Nagayo just smash Matsumoto to bits for the first few minutes and KAORU has to keep interjecting. Nagayo was clearly having fun toying with her, pulling her limbs in all sorts of directions, really savouring the moment before locking in a cross armbreaker, letting her get within millimetres of making the tag before cutting her off emphatically. Hokuto was a little more giving and in being so it highlighted how compelling she could be. Matsumoto's offence is largely pathetic, but she does have a nice atomic drop and I loved Hokuto selling one like it almost broke her tailbone. In true Hokuto fashion she sort of hobbled around for a minute or two after that just to let everyone know it was bothering her. Not that it wound up mattering, because Matsumoto only tagged out when Hokuto grew tired of beating on her and threw her to her own corner, but it at least made you think she had ONE weapon she could draw. KAORU fares only marginally better, but things get awesome in a new way from there because it becomes all about Matsumoto trying to be the saviour. She often fails miserably and yet the longer it goes without the veterans putting a bow on things the more you start to wonder if a miracle is afoot. It's been ages since I've watched any KAORU as well and she was super fun in this. She wasn't quite bottom rung of the ladder like her partner, but still several below their opponents and her underdog SPUNK was great. This was pretty great.
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