-1 1/2hr. Q=Master
RECOMMENDED!
Yuji Nagata Farewell Match: Junji Hirata & Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima & Osamu Nishimura vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Osamu Kido & Takashi Iizuka & Yuji Nagata 11:21
NJPW vs. BJPW:
Shinjiro Otani vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri 8:30
Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Kendo Nagasaki 9:23
Masahiro Chono vs. Shoji Nakamaki 1:07
Masa Saito vs. Great Kojika 4:25
IWGP Tag Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan 16:10
Inoki FINAL COUNTDOWN 6th: Antonio Inoki vs. Willie Williams 4:13
GOLD RUSH RETURN: Super Liger (Chris Jericho) vs. Koji Kanemoto 11:11
Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Michiyoshi Ohara 9:17
J-Crown: Ultimo Dragon vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 18:21
BATTLE OF THE DOUBLE DEALER: Power Warrior vs. Great Muta 16:09
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Riki Choshu 18:04
Highlights of the first 25 years of New Japan.
Liger vs. Ultimo-Liger wins J Crown, Fujinami & Kimura vs. Chono & Tenzan-Fujinami & Kimura win IWGP Tag Titles, Choshu vs. Hash, Headhunters vs. Goto & Gannosuke, Kendo Nagasaki and co. have a "match" where they destroy a small town, more!
Hirata & Nakanishi & Kojima & Nishimura vs. Kido & Yamazaki & Nagata & Iizuka, Choshu vs. Hashimoto
Mita & Yamada vs. ASARI & Shimoda, Toyota vs. Tamada-excellent, Kyoko & Watanabe vs. Yoshida & Takako, Liger & Samurai vs. Otani & Kanemoto, Liger & Samurai vs. Kanemoto & Jericho, Fujinami & Kimura vs. Hashimoto & Nakanishi, Liger & Samurai & Honaga vs. Otani & Kanemoto & Takaiwa-4 1/2, Chono & Bagwell & Norton vs. Muto & Kojima & Nakanishi, Liger & Samurai vs. Otani & Kanemoto, Fujinami & Kimura vs. Hirata & Muto, more!
Ozaki & Sato & Nagashima vs. Kato & Nagayo & Satomura, KAORU & Ichiki vs. Hokuto & Uematsu, Jaguar & Abe vs. Cooga & Sogabe, Funaki vs. Naniwa, TAKA vs. Sayama, Sasuke & Hamada & Delfin vs. Shiryu & Togo & Teioh, Liger vs. Otani-4 3/4 (probably would be ***** unedited, so of course they give us half), more!
Kyoko & Yamada vs. Watanabe & Maekawa, Toyota & Ito vs. Takako & Yoshida, Muto & Sasaki & Kojima vs. Chono & Tenzan & Norton, TAKA vs. Kanemoto, Liger vs. Otani-probably 5 stars, Muto & Hirata vs. Kojima & Nakanishi, Kobashi vs. Misawa-Misawa wins Triple Crown 5, Akiyama vs. Taue, Ace & Williams & Eagle vs. Masao Inoue & Honda & Kawada, more!
Hozumi & Kandori vs. Takako & Bull, Hokuto vs. Kazama-hair vs. hair, Oz vs. Chigusa, Saito & Eagle vs. Tateno & Kazama, Hozumi & Endo vs. Kazama & Tateno, Tenzan & Chono & Saito vs. Choshu & Iizuka & Yamazaki, Liger & Pegasus vs. Otani & Takaiwa ****1/4, more!
Yamazaki vs. Hashimoto, Liger & Benoit & Samurai vs. Otani & Kanemoto & Takaiwa, Choshu & Yamazaki & Kido vs. Goto & Koshinaka & Ohara, Muto & Kojima & Nakanishi vs. Chono &Tenzan & Hiro
6/12/96 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, Best of the Super Junior III Final: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Black Tiger
6/17/96 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Dick Togo vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
8/2/96 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, J-CROWN 1st Round: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Ultimo Dragon
Wonderland Liger #18
1/4/97 Tokyo Dome, J-CROWN: Ultimo Dragon vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
3/20/97 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan, J-CROWN: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Masayoshi Motegi
Shinya Hashimoto & Keiji Muto & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Masahiro Chono & Scott Norton & Marcus Bagwell
Satoshi Kojima vs. nWo Sting
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai Norio Honaga vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa
NJ TV 4/5/97
Note: These matches are the NJ vs. NWO series
Kojima vs. Hiro Saito
Nakanishi vs. Tenzan
Regal vs. Bagwell
Sasaki vs. NWO Sting
Muto vs. Chono
Hashimoto vs. Norton
IWGP Jr. Title: Liger vs. Sasuke, Muta vs. Chono, Fujinami & Kimura vs. Choshu & Sasaki-Choshu & Sasaki win tag titles, Ogawa vs. Hashimoto
Aerts vs. Jean Claude, Bernardo vs. Hoost, & Hug vs. Greco, Liger vs. Sasuke ****, Muta vs. Chono, Kojima & Nakanishi vs. Nishimura & Muto, Liger & Samurai & Honaga vs. Kanemoto & Otani & Takaiwa ****, Liger & Fujiwara vs. Tiger King (Sayama) & Inoki, Sasaki & Choshu vs. Nakanishi & Kojima-Nakanishi & Kojima win IWGP Tag Titles, Hashimoto vs. Ogawa
Kobashi vs. Kawada-Kawada wins Champion Carnival ****1/2, Ogawa & Shiga vs. Hayabusa & Kanemaru, Williams & Lacrosse vs. Misawa & Akiyama, Jungle Jack vs. Takako & Hotta, Toyota & Yamada vs. Watanabe & Maekawa, Kyoko vs. Ito-60:00 draw ****1/4 range, Kanemoto & Otani & Togo & Teioh & Hanzo vs. Sasuke & Delfin & Samurai & Honaga & Hamada ****, more!
BATTLE OF BEAST: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan 14:29. Stationary fight. They hit pretty hard, but there were no dynamics. Nakanishi had no personality at this point and was typically unimpressive. This was also before Tenzan learned to work with stiffs like this, so unfortunately he did little to raise the level of the opposition. *1/2
WCW Special Match: Chris Benoit vs. Kevin Sullivan 1:30 of 9:17. Every match was complete except this one, which was edited down to about 1:30. It was sad seeing Jaqueline interfere in NJ rings.
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Takashi Ishikawa 11:16. Ishikawa has been bad and boring for years, but somehow the perpetually underrated Koshinaka managed to have the 2nd best match on the show with him. Wrestling very smartly Koshinaka hid Ishikawa's weaknesses, bringing all the energy and keeping it short so his ancient foe wouldn't tire. What he asked of Ishikawa was to do some different, exciting things. Ishikawa had a few surprises up his sleeve like an early pescado and a nodowa otoshi off the apron. There were more rest holds than I would have liked, but otherwise it was well built with Koshinaka getting the crowd into it as usual and both men pulling out all the stops. ***
IWGP Tag Senshukenjiai: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki 15:31. The first 9:45 was about as dull as it gets, just a bunch of restholds and restmissions. After that the pace was about 25 times as fast and they did 6 pretty good minutes. *1/2
Ishu Kakutogisen: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Naoya Ogawa 9:25. Ogawa had little idea what he was doing or how to work. He did a poor job of putting over Hashimoto's strikes until Hashimoto hit him so hard that he was really hurting. Hashimoto, of course, brings all his intensity, believability, and brutality to the mix, but he needs something to work with. They were only able to make it look real in the UWF-I kind of stiff strikes, no fake moves, and unclean throws kind of way. Hashimoto got his usual bloody nose and some of the throws were impressive, but Ogawa was so mechanical, robotic, and uncharismatic. What a disgrace that Hashimoto lost to this bum here, and basically his career was ruined by all his subsequent losses to this cancer.**
El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani 13:51. This match was hurt by Samurai's inability to carry, Otani's inexplicable concession to let him try anyway, a dull meandering start, and their insistence on trying to be dickish. It was more of a heavyweight match than I expected, but had the usual lack of crowd reaction for the juniors at the Dome. The execution was top notch though, but the bout didn't build well and the finish was flat. There were times when it was excellent, but because they were into the boot rakes and whatnot they didn't get into enough of those sequences that few can match. Had enough redeeming qualities, but they are the same that these guys matches always have. I'm down on the match not because it wasn't good, but because not that far removed from their superb everything done for a purpose UWF-I influenced 1/21/96 match they delivered as bad a match as they could have had with one another. ***
Power & Submission: Junji Hirata & Satoshi Kojima vs. Osamu Kido & Kazuo Yamazaki 10:18. Some of the spots were really well done, but it didn't come together as a whole, probably due to the varying styles that were pretty much thrown together. The last few minutes were quite good though, and Yamazaki & Kojima had their moments. Kido gave his typical solid but extremely simplistic performance while Hirata added little and didn't seem to fit in. **
J Crown: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. The Great Sasuke 20:08. Sasuke dropkicked Liger to the floor right away and caught him with a quebrada, so Liger devoted the next several minutes to grounding Sasuke. This wasn't the most focused or exciting segment, but it flowed really well due to the movement and counters on the mat. Sasuke, being a proud warrior, tried largely unsuccessfully to match Liger on the ground. After the 12 minute mark the match picked up tremendously with some killer sequences, lethal power moves, and spectacular flying. Sasuke did his Sasuke special and rider kick, while Liger used a wicked released German suplex and brainbuster off the top. Certainly not their best together, but a really smooth match. ****
THE WORLD OF DARKMEN: The Great Muta vs. Masa Chono 14:09. Surprisingly, this was a pretty well worked match with good action throughout that didn't have the typical laziness or stalling by Muta. Muta spray painted NWO on Chono's back early on, but it wasn't one of those matches where he did a bunch of stomps and sleeper holds then lost it and got DQ'd when it started getting good. The use of the table, especially Chono's phony struggle with the ref while he waited for Muto to missile kick him in the back to set up the finish, was very contrived and unsatisfactory. There was some clever stuff though. For instance, Chono tried for his yakuza kick on the ramp, but Muto turned it into a Frankensteiner. This set up a later sequence where Muto tried for his windsprint lariat on the ramp, but Chono stopped it with his yakuza kick. **3/4
INOKI FINAL COUNTDOWN 7th: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger King 6:46. Brief but surprisingly decent match harkening back to Tiger's days in U.W.F. with quick moves in standup to get a knockdown or a takedown. Once they locked up it was nothing special and the match was almost ridiculously short given the way it went down. *3/4
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Kengo Kimura. Again Koshinaka has the 2nd best match on the show with a guy that barely had any good singles matches in the entire decade. Heated start. Although it died down quickly and for several minutes, their strikes were thrown with the intensity of something very damaging. In actuality they weren't that stiff, but the wrestlers look created the illusion. The lead into the dramatic final segment was kind of weak, but these last few minutes were excellent. Each had a counter for the other's favorite move, leading to a mid air hip attack/leg lariat collision. ***1/4
Shin Nihon vs. NWO: Takashi Iizuka & Tadao Yasuda vs. NWO Sting & Syxx. Basic match. The execution was fine, but it just wasn't very good wrestling. Iizuka was typically good, but the others were mediocre at best. Syxx did less than that many good moves and certainly didn't bring his A game. *1/2
WCW vs. NWO: The Giant & Lex Luger vs. Scott Norton & Marcus Bagwell. What planet was this from? There's not adapting, and then there's this stallfest. Buff was constantly posing. Luger beat him up a little and started flexing, which made Buff whine. They stalled some more. The execution was shaky. The fans took most of it as comedy. I don't blame them. It was funny seeing guys so out of touch, but at the same time it was sad because all they did is what passed for American wrestling at the time. The fans were impressed when Giant did something athletic. 1/4*
Shin Nihon & WCW vs. NWO: Keiji Muto & Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner vs. Masahiro Chono & Scott Hall & Kevin Nash. This was better than the previous match, but more of the same. The execution was fine, but it was largely a dull American match. Steiners could still do something at this point, and were the most interesting in the largely dull match. As you'd expect, there wasn't much selling. *1/4
MASTERS OF WRESTLING: Antonio Inoki & Tiger King vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Jushin Thunder Liger. Liger helped get some of the best Tiger has left out of him, but they didn't follow up on their interesting start. These guys dragged Liger down more than he pulled them up. Inoki vs. Fujiwara was as dull and dated as you'd expect. Never built any momentum. *1/2
Junior Heavy Special 2/3 Falls: Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Dick Togo & MEN'S Teio & Hanzo Nakajima vs. El Samurai & Norio Honaga & The Great Sasuke & Super Delfin & Gran Hamada. Excellently worked match that lacked the drama of the classic 10 man tags. The 2/3 falls stip actually hurt the match because it couldn't follow the ark the Michinoku guys perfected with the build up to a remarkable segment of near falls. On one hand I was glad to see something very different for Japan, but on the other hand it was an inferior different that was more reminiscent of the bad aspects of 2/3 lucha matches. Plenty of good teamwork and nice moves, but most of it didn't add up. The rudos were extremely dominant at the expense of the match quality. Otani & Kanemoto were particularly good, but Sasuke was the only guy on his team that made an impression and the only reason he's able to do that is he has a couple of spots so spectacular that you remember him even if he doesn't do anything else. ***1/2
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Kendo Kashin. Yamazaki, as always, does an admirable job of holding together a match against a green or inept shooter. Yamazaki led him well, but Kashin's inexperience still showed in his selling and mounting. Kashin's takedowns were also lacking in believability, but he went into and from hold to hold well. Still, compared to the tight transitions and execution of Yamazaki, his stuff looks weak. Yamazaki was very generous as always, to the detriment of the match but the betterment of the league and his opponent. Yamazaki looked fantastic at times, but Kashin's in between style doesn't really work. I mean, it's hard to take a match seriously as a shoot when Kashin is taking the fight to the floor and whipping Yamazaki into the security rail. Yamazaki did a verticle suplex though, so it wasn't all on Kashin, although I doubt we'd see him use this move against a more serious "shooter." The stiffness was good with Yamazaki's left eye being shut from about 50 mount punches in a row that apparently didn't warrant a stoppage. **
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Tenzan isn't supposed to supply almost all the good offense. Started off in typically boring Fujinami style, got good for the last few minutes, then ended suddenly. **
IWGP Tag Senshukenjiai: Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki. A lot of roughhousing, but no sequences. I appreciate the stiffness, but this was more of the stomping variety than what I'd call the good stuff. Solid. It's hard to believe Kojima would beat Choshu with a Dragon sleeper then quickly stop using the hold. **
IWGP Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Naoya Ogawa. Ogawa was much better here, fighting more fiercely and loosely. A much more realistic looking worked shoot than their previous encounter. Very intense, particularly when they redid the finish of their previous match but this time Hashimoto made the ropes and Ogawa to break. Hashimoto focused on chops, setting up the rolling chop he'd learned in the interim. He was near his best and most brutal. Both men's faces were a mess by the end of the and the finishing kick was about as nasty as anything you'll see. ***
Shiga & Ogawa vs. Sabu & Van Dam, Kobashi & Ace vs. Kawada & Taue-Kobashi & Ace win Double tag titles ****1/2, Misawa vs. Kawada *****, Samurai vs. Jericho, Kanemoto vs. Naniwa ****1/4, Muto vs. Hashimoto
Battlarts 5/31/97
Otsuka vs. ?
Tanaka vs. ?
Usuda vs. Rambo
Otsuka & Ishikawa & Hoshikawa vs. Funaki & Ono & Krueger
NJ TV 5/31/97
Best of the Super Jr. League Bout: Takaiwa vs. Wagner Jr.
Best of the Super Jr. League Bout: Otani vs. Nakajima
Best of the Super Jr. League Bout: Samurai vs. Tajiri. Very good
Kojima & Nakanishi vs. Goto & Nogami
Koshinaka & Ohara vs. Muto & Choshu
Hashimoto & Sasaki & Iizuka vs. Tenzan & NWO Sting & Hiro Saito
Jd' 6/2/97
Sakai vs. Yabushita-debut for both
Sogabe vs. Wakizawa
The Goddess Shiratori & Lee & Kosugi vs. Infernal & Neftaly & Ryuna
Cooga vs. The Bloody
Jaguar vs. Esther Moreno
Bison vs. Lioness-one of Jd's best
Champ Forum Groupo Revolucion 6/7/97
2 matches w/ inexperienced wrestlers
Champ Forum Groupo Revolucion 6/14/97
Shinobi & Tsubasa vs. Tony Rivera & ?
Kendo & Pantera & Solar vs. El Brazo & Brazo de Oro & Jose Luis Feliciano
Ultimo Dragon vs. Negro Casas
Pancrase 6/15/97
Ito vs. Jong Wan
Yamamiya vs. Kunioku
Schilt vs. Fuke
DeLucia vs. Takahashi
Kondo vs. Myers
Suzuki vs. Sutton
*Reviewed in Quebrada #44*
5/16/97 Kiryu: Liger vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. ** range
5/20/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Otani vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri. ***3/4
5/20/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Koji Kanemoto vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa. **1/2
5/24/97 Okayama: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Gran Naniwa. ***
5/26/97 Takamatsushi Sogo Taiikukan: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa. ****
5/26/97 Takamatsu Sogo Taiikukan: Koji Kanemoto vs. Ian Doc Dean.
6/1/97 Odawara Arena: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto. ****3/4
6/3/97 Yamagata: El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani. ****1/4
GAEA 7/5
"Shoot" Match: Meiko Satomura vs. Hiromi Kato. UWF style worked shoot that was good considering their experience level in this style.
"Shoot" Match: Makie Numao vs. Sonoko Kato
10 Woman Elimination Match: Sato & Chikayo & Hiromi Kato & Uematsu & Matsumoto vs. Chigusa & Yamada & Satomura & Kato & Numao. Oz Academy doesn't get along with their face teammates. Oz Academy looks strong despite their leader not being present. ***1/2.
Pancrase 7/12
Satoshi Hasegawa vs. Alex Andrade. Andrade's Pancrase debut. Mainly standup with the kickboxer Andrade controlling the match.
Osami Shibuya vs. Brian Gassaway. Gassaway's Pancrase debut.
Keiichiro Yamamiya vs. Guy Mezger. Very technical with lots of subtle movement and positioning.
Bas Rutten vs. Takaku Fuke. One-sided
Funaki vs. Wesley Gassaway. Funaki walk over
Non Title: Kondo vs. Schilt. Basically a stalemate with Kondo unable to get leverage on the much larger opponent and Schilt lacking the mat game to put Kondo in real danger
GAEA 7/19
Chigusa vs. Rina Ishii. Education match for Rina. *1/4
Hokuto & KAORU vs. Yamada & Numao. Decent. Highlight was Hokuto's selling of her knee. **1/4
Satomura & Sonoko & Uematsu & Hirota vs. Sugar & Nagashima & Matsumoto & Hiromi Kato. Lacked direction and focus. No one was able to step up and carry. **
GAEA 7/12
Hiromi Kato & Hirota vs. Hokuto & Matsumoto. Youngsters got a chance to show what they can do and it was a good step forward for them even though they are very limited at this point. **1/2
Oz & Sugar Sato vs. Chigusa & Sonoko Kato. Wild grudge match with all kinds of brawling and outside interference. Sonoko juiced. Numao was taking more of a beating than the competitors at some points. Chigusa had Oz in the sleeper, but Hokuto came in and broke it up. Very good match that captured the stakes of the Oz Academy vs. Chigusa and the young faces feud. Good wrestling and brawling. ***3/4
NJ 6/28
Tiger Mask Sayama vs. Kobayashi. Nostalgia match that really made you long for their work in 1983 because that was great and this was bad. *
Liger & Naniwa & Jericho & Wagner Jr. vs. Otani & Takaiwa & Tajiri & Hanzo. The juniors who didn't make the Super Jr. finals. NJ juniors, particularly Liger, really stand out from the rest of the pack. Basically one great spot after another with very good heat. ****
Best of the Super Jr. IV Final: El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto. A great match, but also the most overrated puroresu match of 1997. Super spots, but they were just rolling spots out. Selling of previous damage and high spots was terrible, but submissions were put over strong. Comebacks were way too fast. Koji does the move of the year, the nadare shiki no reverse Frankensteiner, which seems to injure Samurai legit, but Samurai quickly comes back by getting his knees up for the moonsault and is into the go offense, not selling the previous damage. Basically that was the story of the match, excitement over selling the previous damage. Stiff as hell and very intense. Samurai's mask is ripped. Samurai wins Best of the Super Jr. IV. ****1/2
*Reviewed in Quebrada #44*
12/11/91 Nagoya Rainbow Hall: Liger vs. Fujinami. ***
9/24/93 Miyagi-ken Sports Center: Liger vs. Tiger Mask (Kanemoto). ***3/4
10/25/93 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Super Grade Tag League IV: Liger & Wild Pegasus vs. Hashimoto & Chono. ****
6/13/94 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan Best of the Super Jr.'94 Final: Liger vs. Delfin. ****
10/9/95 Tokyo Dome: Liger vs. Sano. ***3/4
10/20/96 Kobe World Kinen Hall: Liger vs. Muta. *1/2
4/12/97 Tokyo Retsuden V Special: Liger vs. Choshu. their characters wrestle in the video game
5/26/97 Takamatsushi Sogo Taiikukan Best of the Super Jr. IV League Bout: Liger vs. Takaiwa. ****
Masahiro Chono & Keiji Muto & Kengo Kimura vs. Riki Choshu & Hiroshi Hase & Takayuki Iizuka
Chono & Keiji Muto & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kensuke Sasaki & El Samurai & Takayuki Iizuka
NWA Title: Masahiro Chono vs. Kensuke Sasaki
Chono & Keiji Muto & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Kengo Kimura & Masashi Aoyagi
Masahiro Chono vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Masahiro Chono & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Masahiro Chono & Chris Benoit vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Gran Hamada
Masahiro Chono vs. Scott Norton
IWGP World Heavyweight Title: Masahiro Chono vs. Shinya Hashimoto
Masahiro Chono & Hiro Saito vs. El Samurai & Tadao Yasuda
IWGP Tag Titles: Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki
Chono & Great Muta & NWO Sting vs. Satoshi Kojima & Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi
IWGP Tag Titles: Masahiro Chono & Great Muta vs. High Voltage
7/5/97 SUMMER STRUGGLE '97 taped 6/23 Kuki
Jushin Thunder Liger & Norio Honaga vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani. Awesome work. Koji & Otani were tremendous. ***3/4
Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Akitoshi Saito. Big spots back and forth so it wasn't too bad. Lame finish that came out of nowhere. Decent.
Tatsumi Fujinami & Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi & Michiyoshi Ohara & Tatsutoshi Goto. Fast paced with big spots back and forth. Average.
NWO Sting & Hiro Saito vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Takashi Iizuka. Iizuka looked good, but had nothing to work with. *1/4
Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata & Tadao Yasuda vs. Masa Chono & Great Muta & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Only Hashimoto looked good. Bad and boring turd. 1/2*
7/12/97 SUMMER STRUGGLE '97 taped 7/1 Hachinohe (1st match) & 7/2 Aomori (rest)
Riki Choshu & Fujinami vs. Akira Nogami & Goto. This was part of Choshu's final countdown, so the fans marked out for him big time. The match sucked though. 1/4*
Liger & El Samurai vs. Akira Nogami & Kuniaki Kobayashi. Former juniors Nogami & Kobayashi just don't have it anymore. Samurai was the best of the four. Match was definitely better with Nogami in. **1/4
Kanemoto vs. Takaiwa. All spots with a hot crowd. Koji gets his revenge from the Super Jr. bout. Looked good.
Hashimoto & Hirata vs. Sasaki & Kazuyuki Fujita. Fujita's highest profile match at that point. He wrestled like what he was, a rookie. Everyone else was good though. **
Muta & NWO Sting & Tenzan vs. Fujinami & Nakanishi & Kojima. Boring match with a lot of punching and kicking. *1/4
Shiratori vs. Bison
Jaguar & Kosugi & Sogabe vs. Lioness & Ryuna & Bloody. A brawl totally
dominated by the heels. Kosugi was the bump girl until Lioness Liger bombed her on the floor which injured her legit, so the match eventually continued 2 on 3 since Kosugi had to be hospitalized. Jaguar was dominated, getting bloodied after Lioness piledrove her through a table, then actually pinned after Lioness being jackknifed through a table, towerhacker bombed, and Liger bombed off a table that was set up on the 2nd rope.
Neo Blood Tourney, with Yamamiya defeating Hasegawa after repeated knockdowns from knee lifts. Godsey defeats Kondo in a non-title bout.
AJ Junior Title: Sakai vs. Nakanishi
AAAW Tag Titles: Satomura & Kato vs. Miyaguchi & Saya. very good match with real good performances by Satomura, Miyaguchi and Saya, who had her best performance to date.
Pancrase Rules: Toshiyo Yamada vs. KAORU. Yamada's GAEA debut.
Kato & Satomura vs. Chigusa & Uematsu.
Sato & Nagashima vs. Reyna Jabuki & Infernal KAORU. very good 10 minute sprint
with innovative spots. Chikayo really shines here. Toshiyo Yamada was Jabuki for this one match.
IWGP Title: Hashimoto vs. Tenzan. real stiff, but nothing special overall with Tenzan hurting and no one in the audience thinking he had a chance of winning.
More!
8/1/97 G1 Climax Round 1
Kojima vs. Lord Steven Regal. Regal style match. No heat. Not very interesting until the last few minutes. **
Tenzan vs. Tadao Yasuda. American heavyweight style. The match worked well for the hot pro-Yasuda crowd, but technically it was poor due to sloppiness (and the awkwardness of Yasuda never helps make things look good). *1/2
Junji Hirata vs. Scott Norton. Very short, but surprisingly good considering Norton was involved. Good job by Hirata who supplied the psychology and also took stiff blows from Norton. **1/2
Chono vs. Michiyoshi Ohara. This was a good match, but at this length it should have been better. Ohara attacked Chono's bad ankle some, but not to that great an extent, which resulted in him only being fairly competitive. **1/2
Manabu Nakanishi vs. Muta. This was worked at a snail pace and, as usual, Muta did nothing but stall. Nakanishi did look good though. 1/2*
Hashimoto vs. Yamazaki. Good, solid UWF style bout that was strong in technique, realism, and selling. ***
8/2/97
Don Frye vs. Kazuyuki Fujita. Match was nothing special, but it had a ton of heat and was mainly a backdrop for the post-match angle where Frye turned heel by refusing to break his submission after he won the match. This resulted in Ogawa hitting the ring, and Frye even got in an argument w/ Inoki. *1/2
8/2/97 G1 Climax Round 2
Sasaki vs. Bagwell. Dull American style match w/ the typical posing by Buff. Buff really got over, but only the finishing segment was good. *1/2
8/2/97 G1 Climax Round 2
Tenzan vs. Kojima. Kojima was really fired up here and he was the better of the two. The typical good match between these two with a strong performance by both men. Kojima suffered a concussion during the match and was stretched out after it was over. ***1/4
Muta vs. Norton. Some big spots, but it was, not surprisingly, slow and deliberate. Selling was weak and the finish came out of nowhere. The "highlight" was Muta double-crossing his NWO mate by spewing mist in his face when they shook hands. *1/4
Chono vs. Hashimoto. Chono asked Hashimoto not to attack the bad ankle so it would be a fair fight. He attacked Hashimoto before the bell and got Hashimoto in trouble, so Hashimoto "had to" attack the bad ankle, which drew boos, and the match was soon stopped because Chono could withstand no more punishment to it. Good storyline, but uneventful short match. 3/4*
8/3 G1 Climax Semifinal
Tenzan vs. Hashimoto. Slow paced, but realistic. Tenzan took the requisite huge beating. The downfall of the match was that Tenzan got his foot stuck on the top rope during the diving headbutt finish, which resulted in him injuring his knee and being stuck there until he was untied. They soon redid the finish, with Tenzan scoring the upset win which gave him credibility to replace Chono as the challenger for the IWGP Heavyweight title a week later at the Nagoya Dome. ***1/4
Sasaki vs. Norton. A sprint with a lot of big spots, but below average work. Very little ability possessed or displayed. *
8/3 G1 Climax Final
Tenzan vs. Sasaki. Much too short for a final, but given Tenzan's injury, which was definitely hampering him, it was understandable. Crowd was really into it and Sasaki was actually pretty decent here. Second half was near falls back and forth. Tenzan had his lip busted open. Sasaki wins G1. **1/4
World Pro Wrestling 8/2/97 Summer Struggle '97 taped 7/6 Sapporo Makomania Ice Arena
J Crown: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. El Samurai. Read Review ****1/4
Tatsumi Fujinami & Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima & Tadao Yasuda vs. NWO Sting & Michael Wallstreet & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito. Surprisingly good heated sprint. **1/2
Feature on Yuji Nagata in the USA
Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Great Muta & Masa Chono. Heated, but it sucked in just about every other regard. Choshu was bad, and Muta & Chono aren't good enough to carry him. *1/2
World Pro Wrestling 8/23/97 G1 Climax taped 8/2 & 8/3 Ryogoku Kokugikan
8/2
Don Frye vs. Kazuyuki Fujita. Frye's first major league match. Match wasn't good, but it worked as far as getting Frye over as a heel and the post match bit with Ogawa set up a big match program for him.
8/3
Samurai vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa. Great work and tons of spots, but selling was nothing special. Basically big spots back and forth. Less than half aired, but it looked like ***3/4 although I'd guess lower if it was unedited.
Lord Steven Regal vs. Great Muta. Muta didn't do anything. I would say as usual, but it was worse than usual. 1/2*
Riki Choshu & Kengo Kimura vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Osamu Kido. These guys were trying, but they are old enough to be in the AJ comedy match. Technically sound, but boring. *1/4
from World Pro Wrestling 9/13/97 THE FOUR HEAVEN In Nagoya Dome taped 8/10
J Crown: El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani. Read Review ***3/4
AJ TV 7/6/97
Kawada & Omori vs. Hansen & Smith. Slow paced and boring with few sequences and no interesting spots. *
Kobashi & Ace & Mossman vs. Williams & Albright & Lacrosse. Good heated sprint. Kobashi does a great job here, especially in carrying Gary. ***
AJ TV 7/13/97
Hase & Ikeda vs. Kikuchi & Shiga. Match was decent, but it looks better on paper than it really was. Slow paced with no heat. **
Kawada & Taue & Ogawa vs. Kobashi & Ace & Mossman. Solid and stiff work, but nothing out of the ordinary. **3/4
AJ TV 7/20/97
Misawa & Asako vs. Akiyama & Honda. Honda was really out of his league. No heat and it seemed like the workers were going through the motions. **1/4
Hansen & Smith & Omori vs. Williams & Albright & Lacrosse. Smith was the only good thing about the match. *3/4
AJ TV 7/27/97
Triple Crown: Misawa vs. Taue. *Reviewed in Quebrada #36* Great 20 minute sprint. Strong heat and great work. Misawa does the counter of the year, backflipping in midair to escape Taue's dreaded nodowa otoshi off the apron! ****1/2
AJW TV 8/10/97
7/13/97 Korakuen Hall: Toyota vs. Yamada. Highlights of Yamada's last bout as a member of AJW.
ASARI vs. Shiina. ASARI's first match back from her broken hip. Started out slow, but turned into a good match. **3/4
Japan Grand Prix '97 League Bout: Watanabe vs. Maekawa. Much better than I expected, as this is the first time I'm impressed by Maekawa. Watanabe does a good job of carrying Maekawa and Maekawa doesn't screw up her spots today. ***1/4
Japan Grand Prix '97 League Bout: Toyota vs. Ito. This was a great match that may have been the best women's match of 1997. Fast-paced with lots of creative spots. A ton of high spots and near falls. ****1/2
Las Cachorras Orientales (Shimoda & Mita) vs. Aja & Kyoko. Tremendous brawl. Maybe the best garbage style match I have ever seen because there was really good wrestling to go along with all the gimmick spots and there weren't all the typical flaws of garbage matches. It's incredible that Shimoda & Mita could be this good at this style so soon after they turned heel. ****1/2
NJ TV 8/10/97
7/13: Muta & Chono vs. Steiner Brothers. About a very good match worth of stars below what these guys did in the early 1990's together with Hase in Chono's place. *
7/13: Giant & Luger vs. Hogan & Rodman. Yawn.
7/14: Muta & Chono vs. Public Enemy. Faster paced than the Steiners match, but just as bad. *
NJ TV 8/16/97
Fujinami vs. Choshu. Nostalgia match that didn't bring back any good memories. Dull match that lacked action and, not surprisingly, didn't break any new ground. *
Muta vs. Ogawa. Pointless booking and a bad and boring match. 1/2*
IWGP Title: Hashimoto vs. Tenzan. Really stiff, but slow-paced and not that exciting. It lacked heat because no one would give a healthy Tenzan a chance of winning the title, much less an injured one. ***
Nagoya Dome Opening Match: Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Kendo Kashin. Kashin is certainly not the guy to carry a green wrestler. The chain wrestling was actually pretty good though. Surprisingly, the match wasn't very believable. It was more a Fujinami style technical match. There wasn't much to the match though except Kashin trying a few arm bars and setting Fujita up to slam him into the mat. What they did looked fine, but was just time passing stuff for most matches that go aways. This match didn't go a ways though, so it was more like a match with no middle that suddenly ended. *1/4
Super Jr. Special Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto. Slower, more disciplined match for these two. The early portion was all kicks, submissions, and body work. Liger was struggling like crazy, but Koji's effort here as well as his selling, well better because more focus was put on these aspects, was still somewhat questionable. Very stiff match. The most brutal move was Liger, who was on the apron, brainbustering Kanemoto over the top onto the apron. This was really dangerous because the apron is obviously very small, small enough that Koji had to take all the impact on his head and neck before crashing to the floor because there's no room for his back to land. Good drama toward the end although I expected more near falls. Not as exciting as their typical match, but the execution and impact were great and Koji's selling was better. ****
J Crown: El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani. Read Review. ***3/4
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu. This was Choshu's "final" match in Nagoya. They looked old and worn down, particularly Choshu. Even though they were doing some of the spots they've been doing against one another for two decades, and even a few we hadn't seen in a while, for the "last" time against one another there simply wasn't any spark. The lack of action would have been acceptable if the match was going 15 minutes like it appeared, but it wasn't acceptable for a big sendoff match that was going less than 7. Choshu hugged his old rival Fujinami after the match. *
Great Muta vs. Nagoya Ogawa. When I first viewed this match in 1997, I complained that Muto was destroying their investment, but in retrospect I think he had the right idea. Nonetheless, his actions which included choking Ogawa with his own gi, giving him a low blow, and spewing mist in his face shouldn't have been allowed by NJ because they made their supposed deadly shooter look like an inept fool. Ogawa did himself no favors by showing no fire or charisma. Even with Muto spewing Inoki before the match to babyface Ogawa, Ogawa was unable to get the fans behind him. They even cheered when Ogawa was choked with his gi. The "great" one did his usual routine of stalling and not putting his opponent over, and Ogawa showed that without Hashimoto he was nothing. 1/2*
Junji Hirata & Osamu Kido & Takashi Iizuka & Tadao Yasuda & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Kengo Kimura & Tatsutoshi Goto & Akira Nogami & Michiyoshi Ohara & Akitoshi Saito. With all these guys we should have seen more fire and a faster pace. Instead, the first 12 minutes were too subdued. At least there were so many tags that the slugs weren't exposed. There was even some good striking rather than the expected stomping. The main point was dissention in the ranks of HI. **
Special Single Match: Don Frye vs. Cal Worsham. Both of these guys were very green and badly needed to be carried. Frye took Worsham so seriously that he was chewing gum. Frye gave Worsham more offense then I expected to try to make him somewhat credible, but no one bought it and the crowd was dead. Worsham was not good at faking his strikes, while Frye was only good at punching on the ground. Each looked ridiculous flopping for a strike that didn't connect. Otherwise they didn't embarrass themselves, but it was kind of chopy because they weren't that good at getting to the position they wanted. 3/4*
IWGP Tag Senshukenjiai: Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki. Yamazaki was very good followed by Kojima. Sasaki had one of his better matches, but Nakanishi was in a different world. Basic high impact match. None of these guys are big on the mat, so Yamazaki was predominantly laying in the kicks. Yamazaki & Kojima worked very well together. Sasaki was at his best here because he stuck to the simply stuff. He's not what I'd call a good striker, but like Choshu his less than spectacular looking punches and stomps can be impressive when he's into it enough. Nakanishi was typically bad. He couldn't even follow Yamazaki, so Yamazaki would have to improvise midway through what he was trying. Nakanishi was actually better working with Sasaki because they did the most basic spots. **1/2
IWGP Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Tenzan was a last week replacement for injured Chono. He was not out of his depth as a performer, but he had not been booked in a manner that would lead anyone to believe he could beat Hashimoto in a dome main event. These two always have good matches because neither minds taking a beating. This was a very simple match, they just pulverized each other for 17+ minutes. The problem is it was mainly Tenzan on the recieving end. While Tenzan takes a punting as good as anyone, the match was severly lacking in drama because it only further established that he had no chance. As a non-title Ryogoku Kokugikan main event it would have been acceptable, if done a little better even a step forward for Tenzan, but working the match this way basically showed that everything we knew before it started was true; that Tenzan is a very good up and comer but not yet a big time player. ***
World Pro Wrestling 9/6 G1 Climax'97 taped 8/3 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
G1 Climax Semifinal: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Shinya Hashimoto. ***1/4
G1 Climax Semifinal: Kensuke Sasaki vs. Scott Norton. *
G1 Climax Final: Tenzan vs. Sasaki. **1/4
World Pro Wrestling 9/13 THE FOUR HEAVEN in Nagoya Dome taped 8/10 Nagoya Dome
J Crown: El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani. Otani wins J Crown. ***3/4
Don Frye vs. Cal Worsham. Boring match with no heat. Frye need to go against a native or his tactics don't work. Worsham was pretty bad. 1/2*
IWGP World Tag Titles: Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima. Solid match that was stiffer than usual. Yamazaki was good, but Sasaki sucked. **1/2
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 8/30 '97 Summer Action Series 2 taped 8/26 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Kenta Kobashi vs. Hiroshi Hase. Reviewed in Quebrada #37. ****1/4
World Tag Titles: Steve Williams & Gary Albright vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama. ***1/4
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 9/7 '97 Summer Action Series 2 taped 9/6 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama. Reviewed in Quebrada #37. ****
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 9/14 '97 Summer Action Series 2 taped 9/6 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Hase vs. Tatsuo Nakano. Clip.
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Tamon Honda vs. Steve Williams & Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama. Only Kawada looked good, and he didn't work that good. No heat. 3/4*
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 9/21/97 '97 Summer Action Series 2 taped 9/6 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga. ***1/4
World Pro Wrestling 9/27 G1 Climax Special taped 8/31 Yokohama Arena & 9/13 Maebashi Arena
8/31
J Crown: Shinjiro Otani vs. Koji Kanemoto. **
Naoya Ogawa vs. Scott Norton. DUD
9/13
Tag Tournament Round 2: Junji Hirata & Osamu Kido vs. Takashi Iizuka & Kazuyuki Fujita. Clip
Tag Tournament Round 1(?): Kensuke Sasake & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. NWO Sting & Masa Chono. Yamazaki blades. Solid match with Yamazaki looking good. **1/2
from World Pro Wrestling 10/25/97 taped 10/19 Kobe World Kinen Hall
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani. ****1/4
World Pro Wrestling 11/1/97 NWO Typhoon taped 10/22 Kitakyushin
Koji Kanemoto vs. El Samurai. ****
Liger & Kendo Ka Shin & Norio Honaga vs. Otani & Negro Casas & Tatsuhito Takaiwa. Casas and Honaga didn't really fit in and the others didn't go all out, but it was still damn good. ***1/4
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & Kuniaki Kobayashi & Akira Nogami vs. Masa Chono & Hiro Saito & Tatsu Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara. Boring brawl. Mainly a backdrop for the angle where Goto & Ohara try to get into the NWO. *
Kensuke Sasaki & Shinya Hashimoto & Kazuo Yamazaki & Tadao Yasuda vs. Muta & NWO Sting & Wallstreet & Tenzan. Basically a Tenzan show. **1/4
from World Pro Wrestling 11/15/97 taped 10/31/97 Hiroshima Sun Plaza
Airforce Wars J 3 vs. 3 Elimination: Ka Shin & Liger & Samurai vs. Kanemoto & Takaiwa & Otani. ****1/2
World Pro Wrestling 10/4 G1 Climax Special taped 9/17 Osaka Maishima Arena
El Samurai vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa. Work was good, but neither could carry. ***1/4
Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Ka Shin vs. Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto. Excellent work. ****
Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki & Junji Hirata vs. Masa Chono & Buff Bagwell & NWO Sting. Sprint. **1/4
Tag Tournament Round 2: The Great Muta & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Akira Nogami. Nogami looked good. Fine technically, but no heat and rather dull. *3/4
Tag Tournament Round 2: Shinya Hashimoto & Tadao Yasuda vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima. Stiff, but kind of dull. **1/4
World Pro Wrestling 10/11 G1 Climax Special
9/18 Tokuyama
Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Nogami & Michiyoshi Ohara. Choshu was incredibly over, but the match was bad and boring. 1/4*
G1 Climax Special Tag Tournament Semifinal: Junji Hirata & Osamu Kido vs. Muta & Tenzan. 1/4*
9/20 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
G1 Climax Special Tag Tournament Final: Muta & Tenzan vs. Sasaki & Yamazaki. After Tenzan accidentally hit Muta, Muta blew mist in Tenzan's face and walked out on him. Chono ran in and hit Muta to tease a split. **1/2
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 9/28 '97 Giant Series taped 9/27 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Kenta Kobashi vs. Takao Omori. Omori hung in pretty well, but still no heat. **1/4
Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Maunakea Mossman vs. Steve Williams & Gary Albright & The Lacrosse. Williams worked on Misawa's knee, which he would pick up on in their title match later in the tour. **
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 10/5 '97 Giant Series taped 9/27 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith. Average match with no heat. *1/2
Toshiaki Kawada & Masao Inoue vs. Stan Hansen & Bobby Duncum Jr. Duncum was awful and Hansen can barely move. Kawada was good, but he barely worked. *
9/15 Korakuen: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Hiroshi Hase vs. Akira Taue & Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama. Clip of their 60:00 draw from fan night.
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 10/12 '97 Giant Series taped 10/11 Fukuoka Kokusai Center
Triple Crown: Misawa vs. Williams. Reviewed in Quebrada #40. ***
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 10/19 '97 Giant Series taped 10/11 Fukuoka Kokusai Center
Akiyama & Shiga vs. Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki. Good work. Everyone looked good, but no heat and pacing was too even. ***
World Tag Titles: Kobashi & Ace vs. Kawada & Taue. Closing minutes were hot, but overall it should have been better. ***
World Pro Wrestling 10/18 G1 Climax Special taped 9/23 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Don Frye. Surprisingly good. Intense and credible enough. Fujita eventually got fed up with Frye's heel tactics and resorted to them himself. Not a great technical match, but it worked because the fans were really into it. **1/2
Naoya Ogawa vs. Brian Johnston. Johnston made his pro debut, and Ogawa can't even work himself much less carry anyone else. This went twice as long as it should have. Finish looked incredible and Frye and Ogawa had a pull apart to build to their matchup, but other than that...1/4*
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Zane Frazier. Bad wannabe RINGS match. Frazier was horrible. 1/4*
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 10/19 '97 Giant Series taped 10/11 Fukuoka Kokusai Center
Akiyama & Shiga vs. Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki. Good work. Everyone looked good, but no heat and pacing was too even. ***
World Tag Titles: Kobashi & Ace vs. Kawada & Taue. Closing minutes were hot, but overall it should have been better. ***
Jd' on GAORA 10/4 SHAKE VIORENTLY '97 taped 8/3 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Handicap match w/ Kosugi & Sogabe's hair on the line: Yuko Kosugi & Miyuki Sogabe vs. Lioness. Not much of a match w/ the youngsters going down so easily. Jd' president got his hair cut instead
Esther Moreno vs. Alda Moreno. Highlights
Yuko Kosugi vs. Kazuko Fujiwara. Highlights
The Goddess Shiratori & Yuki Lee & Sachie Abe vs. Ryuna & The Bloody & Michiko Nagashima. Last 6 minutes
Jaguar Yokota & Devil Masami vs. Megumi Yabushita & Sumie Sakai. Reviewed in Quebrada #39. *1/4
Cooga vs. Aja Kong. Not really competitive. Aja was good, but Cooga was just plain outclassed. Main thing for Cooga was that she kicked out a lot and lasted a long time. **1/4
J Crown: Shinjiro Otani vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa
Great Muta & Masa Chono vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki
Don Frye vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
Naoya Ogawa vs. Brian Johnston
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Zane Frazier
NJ World Pro Wrestling 10/25 NWO TYPHOON TOUR taped 10/19 Kobe World Kinen Hall
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & Akira Nogami vs. Hiro Saito & Tatsu Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara. Highlights. Goto & Ohara destroy HI flag after the match.
Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima vs. NWO Sting & Michael Wallstreet & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Highlights.
Shinjiro Otani vs. Jushin Thunder Liger. Liger once again carries Otani to a great match. ****1/4
IWGP Tag Titles: Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Keiji Muto & Masa Chono. Good solid match. Not a lot of high spots, but good build and psychology. Muto & Chono win tag titles. ***1/4
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 10/26 '97 Giant Series taped 10/21 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi. Reviewed in Quebrada #40. *****
NJ TV 11/3 Final Power Hall in Fukuoka Dome taped 11/2 Fukuoka Dome
Keiji Muto & Masa Chono vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Genichiru Tenryu. Slow paced with no heat. Boring. *
Naoya Ogawa vs. Erwin Vreeker. Two incredibly green guys doing nothing for 3 minutes. -*1/2
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Humbert Numrick. Rounds style mixed match. Hashimoto tried, but he was only able to make it watchable. 3/4*
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Riki Choshu. Slow paced match with little heat and no sequences. Pretty boring. Match just ends, and there's no pop for the finish. Riki looks like the tank is on E, if not below. *1/4
GAEA Champ Forum #1 11/4/97 originally aired 5/6/95Gaea First Card taped 4/15/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
*This was GAEA's first TV show. Notice that they aired all the matches with the new girls and saved the main events for the 2nd show.
GAEA NEO SOUL BATTLE: Chikayo Nagashima vs. Toshie Uematsu. Both women made their debut here. They went to a 15:00 draw plus two 3:00 overtimes. Thus, they were out there an eternity considering their experience level, but they stayed within themselves. They did as good as they possibly could, but it was mainly a bunch of rookie spots. Decent.
GAEA NEO SOUL BATTLE: Meiko Satomura vs. Sonoko Kato. Again both made their debut. Much more action than the previous match, but they blew more spots. Not too good.
GAEA NEO SOUL BATTLE: Sugar Sato vs. Narita. Both debuted here. They pretty much did the typical rookie spots. While it was far from a good match, like Chikayo vs. Uematsu, it was good for a rookie style match, which was impressive because sometimes women are wrestling for a year before they do a good for a rookie style match.
Black Cat vs. Yutaka Yoshie. This was like taking a time machine back to 1950. We could find better things to do with our 1.21 gigawatts. A bunch of rest holds and a few basic spots. Execution of the high spots wasn't good. -1/2*
Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Kendo Ka Shin. This showed just how badly these two need Liger to carry them (well, in Ka Shin's case his singles with Otani and Koji have actually been better). Match had little direction or focus. They took it easy to some extent, but still worked stiff. A bit sloppy. **
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani. Solid match, but not as spectacular as normal because it wasn't a big show or a regular TV taping. Still, these guys worked harder and certainly a lot better than the vast majority of wrestlers do on regular TV tapings or even big shows. ***1/4
10/10/97 Koriyama Central Hall: Keiji Muto & NWO Sting & Michael Wallstreet & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki & Junji Hirata & Takashi Iizuka
10/15/97 Fujizawa: Masahiro Chono & NWO Sting & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima & Tadao Yasuda
10/16/97 Yokkaichi Shi Taiikukan: Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono & NWO Sting vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki & Satoshi Kojima
10/26/97 Beppu Peekon Plaza: Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Shinya Hashimoto & Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto
10/29/97: Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono & Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & Akira Nogami
10/10/97 Koriyama Central Hall: Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai & Kendo Ka Shin vs. Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa. ***1/2
10/13/97 Shizuoka: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa. ****
10/16/97 Yokkaichi Shi Taiikukan: Koji Kanemoto vs. Kendo Ka Shin. *3/4
10/16/97 Yokkaichi Shi Taiikukan: Shinjiro Otani vs. El Samurai. ***
10/23/97 Kumamoto Shi Taiikukan: Shinjiro Otani vs. Kendo Ka Shin. ***
10/25/97 Kagoshima Arena: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto. ***3/4
10/27/97 Nagasaki-ken Furitsu Taiikukan: El Samurai vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa
World Pro Wrestling 11/15 NWO Typhoon taped 10/31 Hiroshima Sun Plaza
Junior 3 vs. 3 Elimination: Ka Shin & Liger & Samurai vs. Kanemoto & Takaiwa & Otani. ****1/2
Shinya Hashimoto & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Keiji Muto & NWO Sting. Muto, Yamazaki, & Hashimoto all looked very good here. Only 1/3 aired, but it looked good to very good.
IWGP World Heavyweight Title: Kensuke Sasaki vs. Masa Chono. Very heated. Chono instilled the psychology and both sold long to put the moves over. These guys just aren't very good workers though. Great heat. Somewhat boring though. ***
AJ Pro Wrestling 3011/16 '97 Real World Tag Team League taped 11/15 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Misawa & Akiyama vs. Johnny Smith & Wolf Hawkfield. Smith & Wolf dominated the match in order to get heat, and that combined with the fact that they took the heavy favorites so deep was enough for it to work. Smith worked most of the portion that aired and he was very good as always. ***1/2
Kawada & Taue vs. Hansen & Bobby Duncum Jr. Slow paced and boring. Waste of TV time. *1/4
World Pro Wrestling 11/22 FINAL POWER HALL in Fukuoka Dome taped 11/1 Fukuoka Dome
Don Frye vs. Kazuo Yamazaki. Good back and forth match. **1/2
Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima & Tadao Yasuda vs. Scott Norton & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Michiyoshi Ohara. Norton's knee went out so they went home early, which just put us out of our misery. 3/4*
Tiger King (Sayama) & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa. Tiger King was way out classed to the point he was hurting the match and embarrassing himself. Everyone else was very good though. Lots of great spots with execution below normal due to Tiger. ***1/2
J Crown: Shinjiro Otani vs. Wild Pegasus (Benoit). ****
AJW TV 11/22 WRESTLE MARINEPIAD '97 taped 10/18 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan
Once Upon A Time: Chigusa vs. Dump Hair vs. Hair 1
2/3 Falls WWWA Tag Title: Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs. Kumiko Maekawa & Momoe Nakanishi. Reviewed in Quebrada #43. ****1/4
HOT EYES-clips of Nishibori vs. Toyoda vs. Wakizawa triangle match and Takahashi vs. Chihiro Nakano
WWWA World Singles Title: Yumiko Hotta vs. Kaoru Ito. No heat with neither woman over at all. The pro style work was great, but the shoot style stuff showed a lack of understanding of the genre. Less than half the match aired, but it appeared to be very good.
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 11/23 '97 Real World Tag Team League taped 11/23 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center
League Bout: Misawa & Akiyama vs. Kobashi & Ace. Started slow, but turned into a great match. Match was great when Kobashi was in, particularly when he was working with Jun, but only very good when Ace was in. Great work with lots of great spots. Stiff with big bumps. Not a whole lot of psychology, but the timing was really good. ****1/2
World Pro Wrestling 11/29 SG Tag League VII taped 11/22 Nagaoka
League Bout: Satoshi Kojima & Tadao Yasuda vs. NWO Sting & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Too much Sting & Yasuda. Those two didn't look good and Tenzan & Kojima didn't work enough to save it. *1/4
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai & Kendo Ka Shin vs. Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa. Typical match with great work and great spots back and forth. Focus was Ka Shin pushing Kanemoto. ****
Kensuke Sasaki & Shinya Hashimoto & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Hiro Saito & Tatsu Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara. Snooze. *
League Bout: Keiji Muto & Masa Chono vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura. Very average. Goto & Ohara laid Muto & Chono out after the match. **
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 11/30 '97 Real World Tag Team League taped 11/27 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Kawada & Taue vs. Kobashi & Ace. Less than 1/3 of a 30:00 draw aired. Looked very good.
Misawa & Akiyama vs. Hayabusa & Shinzaki. Hayabusa & Shinzaki's high spots were worked into the match well. Hayabusa & Shinzaki had absolutely nothing to use early on though. Tons of great spots, but not a lot of substance. Very exciting match with a rabid crowd, but build, selling, and psychology could have been a whole lot better. ****1/4
SG Tag League VII
note: all matches are league bouts
11/18/97
Keiji Muto & Masa Chono vs. High Voltage
Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Satoshi Kojima & Tadao Yasuda
11/23/97
Muto & Chono vs. Tatsu Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara
11/24/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Kojima & Yasuda
11/29/97
Sasaki & Yamazaki vs. Muto & Chono
12/3/97
Hashimoto & Nakanishi vs. Muto & Chono
NWO TYPHOON
10/10/97
Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki & Junji Hirata & Takashi Iizuka vs. Keiji Muto & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & NWO Sting & Michael Wallstreet
Masa Chono & Hiro Saito vs. Tatsu Goto & Akira Nogami
10/15/97
Chono & Tenzan & NWO Sting & Hiro vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima & Tadao Yasuda
10/16/97
Goto & Ohara vs. Kengo Kimura & Nogami
Muto & Chono & NWO Sting vs. Sasaki & Yamazaki & Kojima
10/25/97
Chono & Hiro & NWO Sting vs. Sasaki & Hashimoto & Yamazaki
10/26/97
Muto & Chono & Tenzan & Hiro vs. Sasaki & Hashimoto & Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto
10/29/97
Muto & Chono & Ohara vs. Fujinami & Kimura & Nogami
World Pro Wrestling 12/6 SG Tag League VII taped 11/30 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
SG Tag League Bout: Keiji Muto & Masa Chono vs. NWO Sting & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Really long and boring match with no one looking good. More of the Goto & Ohara angle including them kidnapping Hiro Saito. 1/2*
El Samurai vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa. All the big spots back and forth. Looked great in this edited down form, but we know better. ***1/2 range
Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Ka Shin vs. Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto. Another great match that built Ka Shin up for this title shot. ****
SG Tag League Bout: Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi. Solid match with good action. ***
World Pro Wrestling 12/13 SG Tag League VII taped 12/5 Kochi-ken Min Taiikukan
Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono vs. Tatsu Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara. Terrible squash, but the main point was the continuation of the angle. Goto & Ohara had the kanji for dog spray painted on their back. After the match, Muto & Chono let them in the NWO. Goto & Ohara put the shirts on, but then double crossed Muto & Chono, spray painting dog on their back and leaving them laying. DUD
Liger & Samurai & Ka Shin vs. Otani & Kanemoto & Takaiwa. Typical great work and spots. ***3/4
SG Tag League Bout: Hashimoto & Nakanishi vs. NWO Sting & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Bad match with the exception of when Hashimoto worked with Tenzan. Sting sucked. *1/4
Sasaki & Yamazaki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura. Mainly a lot of leg work and submissions. Solid, but dull with no heat. *3/4
Jd' Special on GAORA 12/2/97 Shake Violently '97 taped 9/7 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Abe & Fujiwara vs. Esther & Alda Moreno. Highlights.
The Goddess Shiratori vs. Yuki Lee. The crowd was actually hot, and very pro Goddess, but the match was, not surprisingly, lousy. They tried hard and there were a few nice spots, but the work wasn't too impressive. *1/2
Jd' Junior League Bout: Megumi Yabushita vs. Sumie Sakai. Highlights
The Bloody vs. Ryuna. Highlights.
Gedo vs. Jado. A lame effort by Fuyuki's jokers, who seemed to be wrestling in slow motion. *
Lioness Asuka & Eagle Sawai & Shark Tsuchiya vs. Jaguar Yokota & Cooga & Yabushita. Kodo Fuyuki refed for a while, but he couldn't keep any semblance of order and Jaguar wound up kicking his butt, so Tommy Ran took over. Heel dominated this one. Jaguar was the best, but the match went on forever, especially considering how one-sided it was, so it was kind of boring. Lioness pins Jaguar to set up TWF title rematch. *1/2
NJ World Pro Wrestling 12/20/97 Super Grade Tag League VII Final taped 12/8 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
SG Tag League Decision Match for slot in final: Sasaki & Yamazaki vs. Hashimoto & Nakanishi. Nakanishi showed a lot of fire for the first time in ages. Stiff match with great heat. I was actually disappointed that only ½ the match aired. ***1/2
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Otani vs. Ka Shin. This had a lot of well-executed shoot style spots. They clearly traded realism in that genre for excitement, and they achieved their goal. Match was very good, but Otani was dominated so much that he barely did anything offensively beyond his signature spots. ***3/4
Super Grade Tag League VII Final: Hashimoto & Nakanishi vs. Muto & Chono. Match comes off much better in unedited form on the BEST BOUTS of 1997 tape. ***1/4 unedited. Looks about 3/4* lower here.
Highlights of matches from the following shows; 1/4 Tokyo Dome, 2/9 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center, 4/12 Tokyo Dome, 5/3 Osaka Dome, 7/6 Makomania Ice Arena, G1 Climax Ryogoku Kokugikan, 8/10 Nagoya Dome, 8/31 Yokohama Arena, 9/23 Nippon Budokan, 10/19 Kobe World Memorial Hall, 11/2 Fukuoka Dome
Complete Matches
6/5 Nippon Budokan Best of the Super Junior Final: El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto. This match is even further exposed as not being what it's made out to be in this form because it got off to a slow start with meaningless chinlocks and whatnot before picking up for what aired on TV. There was one main point in the first 10 minutes, Kanemoto "injuring" Samurai's knee. From 10 minutes on it was the great, but highly flawed match that people have come to love and highly overrate. ****1/2
8/31 Yokohama Arena: Naoya Ogawa vs. Scott Norton. Hey, I thought this was a best of? This was just horrible. Norton tried to carry this, with tried being the key word. His "selling" of Ogawa's submissions was pathetic if not disgraceful. -*
10/31 Hiroshima Sun Plaza IWGP World Heavyweight Title: Kensuke Sasaki vs. Masa Chono. Chono tries to take away the lariat arm. The psychology was good, but it had no heat and the moves used to take away the arm as well as Kensuke's selling to put it over weren't too good. Chono is a very smart wrestler and that he was even able to have a good match with Sasaki was an accomplishment, but this really didn't work as well as it should have. ***
12/8/97 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan SG Tag League Final: Keiji Muto & Chono vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi. Heels took out Nakanishi's knee. Hashimoto finally made a hot tag and dominated. Nakanishi eventually gets his Argentine backbreaker, but his knee "gives out." Last 5 minutes were really good. Strong match from a booking standpoint, as it was smartly laid out and worked, but it didn't come off as anything great, mainly because it wasn't all that exciting and Nakanishi was poor. ***1/4
2/9/97 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center, J Crown Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani
8/31/97 Kanagawa Yokohama Arena, J Crown Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Shinjiro Otani vs. Koji Kanemoto
7/1/97 Hachinohe: Riki Choshu & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Tatsutoshi Goto & Akira Nogami
7/6/97 Sapporo Makomania Ice Arena: Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Great Muta & Masahiro Chono
8/1/97 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Tatsumi Fujinami & Osamu Kido vs. Riki Choshu & Kengo Kimura
9/18/97 Toyama Shi Sogo Sports Center: Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Akira Nogami & Michiyoshi Ohara
9/20 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan, G1 CLIMAX SPECIAL Tag Tournament Ketteisen: Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Great Muta & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. 15:24. Sasaki vs. Tenzan was pretty good because their styles meshed, but Muta destroyed Yamazaki's credible style by using objects. Didn't much matter though, as it was about stupid angles rather than a coveted tag crown. Muta got angry when Tenzan's mongolian chop off the top backfired, so he walked off. Tenzan was fairing pretty well on his own though, so Muta got back in the match, only to spew Tenzan when Tenzan was ready to deliver his patented diving headbutt. Chono attacked Muto, but Sasaki took him out and his team put Tenzan away with two moves. Though the wrestling wasn't great, it's not so much that it was bad, simply that it was an afterthought. *1/2
10/19 Kobe World Kinen Hall, IWGP Tag Senshukenjiai: Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono. 24:24. Even though Sasaki & Yamazaki were getting the best of him, they still had to conform too closely to Muto's weak style. Most of the match centered around a knee attack that started out well with Muto grabbing Sasaki's leg to stop him from lariating Chono, but quickly reverted to cliche, and the submissions weren't rendered dangerous or meaningful. Chono wasn't in that much, and Yamazaki isn't that effective in situations like this where an opponent is working against him. **
7/6, Ishu Kakutogisen: Naoya Ogawa vs. Kazuo Yamazaki. 8:30. Yamazaki us effective against a bad opponent that works his style. Yamazaki was allowed to do his thing, which is build the match around his opponent's strengths. Both looked good and got over more because Ogawa did what little was required of him well, and Yamazaki did the rest with typical excellence. Yamazaki isn't used to fighting opponents who wear a gi, but he figured several ways to use it to his advantage. Ogawa was good at one thing, catching a kick and going right into a judo throw, so Yamazaki tried to neutralize the judo with striking but Ogawa would sporadically get his takedowns through explosive counters. A better match, and one that did a lot more for the promotion (business), than the typical Ogawa vs. Hashimoto. **3/4
6/5 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, IWGP Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Keiji Muto. 26:00. NJ entered AJ's building one day before what turned out to be one of the greatest of the great Misawa vs. Kawada matches and laid this egg. But the quality is not so important, it's more the effort that shows the stark difference in the promotions. Hashimoto vs. Muto wasn't bad, but you were counting the ways it should have been better, and first and foremost was effort. Misawa vs. Kawada could have been smarter, but they went beyond the call of duty to deliver a match of the year and the best match they could in the style they chose. Meanwhile, the musketeers wasted the first 15 minutes, and Muto tried to make himself come off as Hashimoto's equal in submission. Eventually, after Muto's requisite time biding, Hashimoto got grumpy and punted him a few times, but Muto quickly put an end to that and went back to laying on the mat. Even though the majority of the match was contested on the ground, Muto really puts little effort into this portion, figuring a few minutes of exciting action at the end is all people will remember anyway. Finally Muto injured Hashimoto's knee in standup and the fans soon got all excited because he went through his requisite high spots. The last 10 minutes had good offense, but didn't quite save the match since it wasn't thought out or solid. **1/2
8/31 Kanagawa Yokohama Arena, IWGP Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kensuke Sasaki. 16:55. Like much late Kawada, it was somewhat disappointed due to not living up to psychologic and dramatic potential, but it was vicious. A battle of toughness where they simply laid into each other the whole match, and whoever could withstand the biggest beating won. Sasaki's left arm/shoulder was weakened early during a wicked exchange of chops. Hashimoto tried to capitalize and take out the lariat arm, but Sasaki just sucked it up and delivered his hardest, sending sweat flying off Hashimoto's body. In general they should have capitalized on the openings more and it was simple to a fault, but the consistency was more of a positive since that allowed it (pummel your opponent) to be the story of the match. ***1/4