Highlights from 12/11/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall matches. Featured matches are TAJIRI vs. Super Crazy, Kintaro Kanemura vs. Axl Rotten for the Hardcore title, Masato Tanaka vs. Balls Mahoney, and H & Mr. Gannosuke vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Hisakatsu Oya for the WEW Tag titles
Highlights from 12/12/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
H & Mr. Gannosuke vs. Masato Tanaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda. Not much selling, but a very good spot match that the fans were into. Everyone except Kuroda was really good. ***1/2
Highlights from 1/4/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall. Featured matches are Kintaro Kanemura vs. Flying Kid Ichihara for the Hardcore title and Kodo Fuyuki & Kyoko Inoue & Balls Mahoney & Pitbull 1 vs. H & Mr. Gannosuke & Hisakatsu Oya & Ricky Fuji
WEW Single Senshuken: Masato Tanaka vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda. Tanaka did a cool spot where he snap suplexed Kuroda down the stairs. Tanaka's work was top notch, and he made it dramatic. Unfortunately, goofy Kuroda had no clue how to play anything and just went for lariat upon lariat. If Tanaka was in with a capable opponent then this would have been ****, easy. It was still good, but Kuroda holding this title is like Takao Omori holding the Triple Crown, he's not terrible but he's a joke of a champ. ***1/4
*Replica package available*
WEW Hardcore Senshukenjiai: Ryuji Yamakawa vs. Kintaro Kanemura. Double juice brawl. Cool spots, but that was the whole match. Highlights were Kanemura putting Yamakawa through a table with a body press off the upper level & Yamakawa putting Kanemura through a table with a senton atomico off the upper level. ***1/4
WEW 6 Man Tag Senshukenjiai 3 vs. 4 Handicap 6 Man Tag Match: Koji Nakagawa & Jado & Gedo vs. Willy Williams & Willie Takayama & Boze & Megane. God awful. The Willie's team was all wannabe martial artists that couldn't do their style right, much less anything else. -*
Undercard highlights
Sandai Special Single Match Super Extreme Match: Mr. Gannosuke vs. Sabu. The match had a few good spots like Gannosuke giving Sabu his fire thunder off the apron through a table. Not that far into the match, it just ended with both guys walking off like they were injured. Maybe one of them was injured legit and they had to stop it?
Sandai Special Single Match WEW Single Senshuken Oza Ketteisen: Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs. Kodo Fuyuki. Brawl. The work was poor and there weren't really any sequences. Actually, really all they had to offer was a lot of blood, but the fans were into the near falls. If you really like lariats then this is the match for you, but otherwise the fast forward button is probably a good option. *
Sandai Special Single Match FMW vs. ECW: Hayabusa vs. Masato Tanaka. This match was poorly structured. Tanaka was doing all these weardown holds, but everytime Hayabusa would go on offense, he'd do dives and finishers. They finally got on the same page and turned it into a spot match, and from this point it was excellent. Except for one or two moves, both men's execution was right on. If the match made any sense, it certainly would have been excellent. It's just that they didn't seem to agree on the direction of the match early on, and neither seemed willing to compromise by matching the style and pace of their offense with that of their opponents. ***
taped 5/28/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
WEW Single Senshuken Jiki Chosensha Ketteisen (next challenger decision match): H vs. Mr. Gannosuke vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda. H looked really good here. Kuroda has no move set, but H did so many moves when they were in together, which was the majority of what aired, that it didn't really matter. Kuroda still can't act, which did matter because the match starts looking campy and corny. Fuyuki was the heel ref here, and he allowed Gannosuke to get away with hitting H with a crutch for the win. The thing was Gannosuke was barely shown, and his fall came 12 seconds after H pinned Kuroda, so it was a really lame and anticlimactic finish. Still, H vs. Kuroda was very good, and that was the majority of what we saw of the match. 8:06 shown
taped 6/16 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Chocoball Mukai vs. Naohiro Yamazaki. They try hard, but what aired was only adequate. Mukai keeps doing one or two new (for him) moves, but Yamazaki's offense was big moves from 80's guys. 4:46 shown
"Transvestive" vs. Woman Mixed Match: Azusa Kudo vs. Kaori Nakayama. The size difference hurt the credibility visually, and Goshogowara sucks and has no idea how to work spots that play it up (to put him over) or down (to put his opponent over). Nakayama injured him with two kicks to the balls, so Emi Motokawa (Kudo's second) came in and picked up the slack. That improved the quality of the match, even though the double team spots that Emi & Kudo did once Kudo recovered were 3/4 speed at best. It was not a good match at all, but Kaori looked pretty good here, all things considered. 4:51 shown
Jado & Gedo vs. Ruben Cruz & Michael Shane. Match had a lot of action. Shane stood out in a RVD kinda way, or maybe it's that he's a Michaels student and RVD is kind of a really goofy version of Michaels. Gedo was almost a non-factor and Cruz didn't do much, but Jado vs. Shane was good. Jado really held this match together. **1/4
Hideki Hosaka & Yoshinori Sasaki & Kintaro Kanemura vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Hisakatsu Oya & Flying Kid Ichihara. Match seemed okay because of Ichihara, who looked good even though he got a little carried away with hise use of a piece of broken table. Oya broke up Kanemura's post match dance by cracking him over the head with a piece of broken table. 5:03 shown.
Kodo Fuyuki & GOEMON vs. H & Hayabusa (Genichiru Tenryu). This was the match where Ricky Fuji, who was being held captive in some basement, would be blown up by dynamite if H's team lost. It started off with both guys against H, as Hayabusa was no where to be seen. GOEMON busted him open with a chain. He stood around and did nothing much of the rest of the time until they started double teaming though. H finally got some offense in when he avoided GOEMON's spew and Fuyuki was taken out. Eventually Hayabusa's music started blaring and Tenryu came out dressed in a Hayabusa costume, but with his chest there's no mistaking who he is. The announcers repeatedly said it was Tenryu instead of insulting our intelligence and trying to say it was the real Sting or something. Tenryu gave Fuyuki his lariat, some chops, and powerbomb then H did his firebird splash for the win. Match was boring because H barely got any offense in. Fuji was blown up anyway, but the explosion looked so machine made.*1/2
Chocoball Mukai vs. Azusa Kudo. Chocoball seems to have some potential and be improving, but this transvestite gimmick makes Goshogowara even worse than he was before. All these freaks hanging around ringside and jumping in the ring when a certain move was done just made it more of a farce. The finish was one of the worst ever. Azusa kissed Chocoball to lead to a near fall then does a liplock for the submission. -*
WEW Hardcore Tag Senshukenjiai: Eddie Fatu & Matty Smalls vs. Hideki Hosaka & Yoshinori Sasaki. Fatu & Smalls don't seem very good, but do work together pretty well. They destroyed the opposition for most of the match. This was another of those hardcore matches that has blood and gimmick spots, but no real substance. Sasaki & Smalls brawled into the elevator, which was something new but we didn't see anything once the door shut so it was nothing special. Actually, it would have sucked to see them punch each other in such close quarters for two minutes, so them cutting away at the point they did was the best thing. Anyway, the effort was good and so was the finish, but as a whole this was not a well thought out or worked match. *1/4
WEW Tag Senshukenjiai: Jado & Gedo vs. Masao Inoue & Naomichi Marufuji. This turned out to a be a style clash and the teams didn't work together that well. Gedo is probably in the best shape of his life, but that doesn't translate into him working any harder in the ring though. Jado gave a solid performance. The match was at it's best when he was in with Marufuji, but we didn't see enough of this for it to have a chance of saving the match. *1/2
GOEMON vs. Naohiro Yamazaki. Yamazaki's wrestling was a little better, but his talking to aliens gimmick more than negates the improvement. This was some gimmick match where they wrapped each other in tarp. The big spot was Yamazaki thinking he had wrapped GOEMON up after they'd brawled to the back, and bringing him back into the ring only to see him walking through the stands. Yamazaki then checks who is in the tarp and it turns out to be Emi Motokawa. This would have been better if wasn't so far away when Yamazaki found out it was Emi. Instead, GOEMON reentered the ring and did like one move to the "shocked" Yamazaki for the win. DUD
Cooking Match: Kyoko Inoue vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda. These two worked well together. There weren't many different moves here, but the sequences they used to lead to them were good. Kyoko looks to weigh more than Kuroda, so visually there was no problem with him selling for her. To bad it was short (or so little was shown) and he didn't put her over that much because this probably would have been the best match on the show. 4:49 shown. **1/4
WEW Hardcore Senshuken: Kintaro Kanemura vs. Mike Samples. What aired wasn't bad at all because they stuck to what they can do. The finish was really lame though with Kanemura surprising Samples with a schoolboy. 4:43 shown. *1/2
Kodo Fuyuki & Jinsei Shinzaki & Mr. Gannosuke vs. Hayabusa & Masato Tanaka & Hisakatsu Oya. Good action here. Even when Fuyuki was in the ring, it was interesting as long as he wasn't on offense. Hayabusa stole the show since he has the best spots and Tanaka wasn't featured at all. Fuyuki not being featured balanced off the lack of Tanaka though. ***
Highlights of Fuyuki vs. Oya from 8/18 and Fuyuki vs. Tanaka and Gannosuke & GOEMON & Kanemura vs. Hayabusa & Kudoda & Oya from 8/20
8/28 - Next challenger for the WEW Single Senshuken: Hayabusa vs. Mr. Gannosuke,
Kintaro Kanemura & GOEMON vs. Masato Tanaka & Onryu WEW Single Senshuken:
Kodo Fuyuki vs. Captain Jack, Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs. Ricky Fuji, WEW Tag Senshuken:
Hideki Hosaka & Yoshinori Sasaki vs. Jado & Gedo, etc.
9/17- WEW 6 Man Tag Senshuken: Kodo Fuyuki & Mr. Gannosuke & Shinjukusame
vs. Jado & Gedo & Kaori Nakayama
9/21 edited version of Hayabusa vs. Fuyuki 15,000 volt match
15,000 Volt Hoden Bakuha Kanaami Thunder Hold Death Match: Hayabusa vs. Kodo Fuyuki, 3 Way Dance for the WEW Hardcore Tag Senshuken: Jado & Gedo vs. Kintaro Kanemura & Ryuji Yamakawa vs. Hideki Hosaka & Mammoth (Yoshinori) Sasaki, Azusa Kudo & Emi Motokawa vs. Shogun KY Wakamatsu & Naohiro Yamazaki, Special Mixed Match: Kyoko Inoue & Flying Kid Ichihara & Kaoruko Arai vs. Hisakatsu Oya & Ricky Fuji & Jun Kusanagi, etc.
Mr. Gannosuke & GOEMON vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Onryu
WEW Single Senshukenjiai 60 Minute Iron Man Match: Kodo Fuyuki vs. Hayabusa
Full match list coming soon
Yoshihiro Sasaki vs. Satoru Makita. These guys don't show anything yet. 2:30 shown
Shinjuku Same & Chocoball Mukai vs. Flying Kid Ichihara & Tomokazu Morita. Shinjuku is one of those wannabe martial artists that was hanging around with Hido. He does a boxing gimmick, but his punches are so unbeliavably fake. Mukai & Ichihara were alright, but Morita is really green and tehre's nothing worse than a striker that barely touches his opponent. 7:28 shown. Poor
Kyoko Inoue vs. Emi Motokawa. Gimmick oriented match. It sounded pretty good on paper, but it didn't work out too well in actuality, largely because Emi had some trouble setting up the gimmick spots and handling an opponent that's so heavy. 5:07 shown
Mixed Tag Match: Jado & Gedo & Kaori Nakayama vs. Hisakatsu Oya & Ricky Fuji & Naohiro Yamazaki. They kept the pace up, but it was kind of sloppy. Not boring, but the work was indy level. Kaori did a few cool moves, for instance an ultra huracanrana. *1/4
Hideki Hosaka vs. Asuza Kudo. Kudo's transvestite spots make it hard to take any of the rest of the match seriously, which is an issue because the bulk of the match is regular bad wresting. *
Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs. Mammoth Sasaki. Kuroda has gotten better as a worker, particularly his sequences, but his mannerisms are still too goofy. This match was most interesting when the gimmicks were involved because they don't have big move sets, but the gimmicks give them something different that did a good amount of damage. The highlight was Sasaki chokeslamming Kuroda off the stage through a table. Their acting isn't much, but it was fairly dramatic because there were so many near falls. **1/2
2./3 Falls: Hayabusa & Masato Tanaka & Onryu vs. Kodo Fuyuki & Kintaro Kanemura & GOEMON. Tanaka was the only one that gave a noteworthy performance. The match was at it's best when he was in with Kanemura. Fuyuki was the worst because there was no impact on his power moves. Aside from him, the work was good enough, but the match lacked drama. **1/2
Ricky Fuji vs. Chocoball Mukai
Shinjukusame vs. Flying Kid Ichihara
Man & Woman Mixed Tag Match WEW 6 Man Tag Senshukenjiai: Jado & Gedo & Kaori Nakayama vs. Brad Elliot & Damian Braid & Pat Tanaka
Man vs. Woman Mixed Match: Naohiro Yamazaki vs. Kyoko Inoue
Man & Woman Handicap Match: Azusa Kudo & Emi Motokawa vs. Hisakatsu Oya
Norui (curse) no Belt Sodatsu (struggle) Match: GOEMON vs. Onryu
Triple Tag Final: Kodo Fuyuki & Kintaro Kanemura vs. Masato Tanaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs. Jado & Gedo
Onryu & GOEMON vs. Shinjukusame & Naohiro Yamazaki. GOEMON is mystery partner
Yuushitessen Street Fight Scrambe Bunkhouse Double Hell Final 6 Man Tag Death Match: Kodo Fuyuki & Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Kintaro Kanemura vs. Masato Tanaka & Jado & Gedo
WEW Hardcore Tag Senshukenjiai: Mammoth Sasaki & Hideki Hosaka vs. GOEMON & Onryu
Full match list coming soon