-1hr. Q=Master
NJPW Wonderland #175
12/84 Okayama Budokan: Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Strong Machine No. 1 & Strong Machine No. 2
12/28/84 Phillipines, WWF World Tag Title: Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdock vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura 18:17. US plotting with heels controlling the bulk of the match, keeping the face cut off from his corner and double teaming in their own. Fujinami & Kimura tended to wait until the last few minutes to deliver the action, so this worked well for them because they'd get a minute of hot offense when they were finally able to tag, spreading the action across the match rather than withholding it. Adonis & Murdock, aside from being smart tag wrestlers, also have much better offense than most of the faces of their day, so in spite of being heels the duo dominating the match actually helped the quality. Murdock & Fujinami were both very impressive, clearly outshining their partners. Fujinami was particularly fiery in stretches, which showed how great he could have been. He was NJ's best heavyweight of the decade because of his technical skill and diversity, but he actually had some of Choshu's fire in him, he just didn't show it often enough or with any consistency. ***1/2
1/18/85: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. King Kong Bundy
Wonderland #176 taped 1/18/85 Kumamoto
Shunji Takano & The Cobra vs. Black Tiger & Hiro Saito 12:09. Hiro's brawler push continues in this mixed bag. Black Tiger does by far the best wrestling, with Cobra having a good day with sharp execution for once and good chemistry with Tiger. Shunji is much taller than everyone else and not a junior, nor much of a worker, but he had a bad knee that they beat on to make his time passable. Hiro didn't have any chemistry with anyone, but Ueda was at ringside and eventually jumped in, causing a wild postmatch brawl where Shunji was beaten bloody and Fujinami eventually made the save. **3/4
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Strong Machines 15:41. Fans were into this, but I found it rather dull and run of the mill. Hard to get into the Machines when they are one in the same, they don't even bother giving them numbers or doing anything to distinguish one from the other. They did a lot of triple teaming. Fujinami was fired up and it went up several notches each time he came in. *3/4
1/25/85: Antonio Inoki vs. Abdullah The Butcher
NJPW Wonderland #177 taped 1/25/85
Shunji Takano & Kantaro Hoshino & The Cobra vs. Strong Machines
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. King Kong Bundy
12/8/84 Phillipines: Antonio Inoki vs. Andre The Giant
NJPW Wonderland #179
2/6/85 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Hulk Hogan
2/5/85 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan:
Kengo Kimura & Kantaro Hoshino & Shunji Takano vs. Strong Machines
Antonio Inoki vs. King Kong Bundy
NJPW Wonderland #180
2/5/85 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: The Cobra vs. Black Tiger
1/14/85 Honolulu, Hawaii Neal Blaisdell Center:
Seiji Sakaguchi & Anoalo Atisanoe vs. Super Samoan Sakarie & Superfly Chu
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Strong Machine
Antonio Inoki vs. Hacksaw Higgins
Wonderland Junior #26
10/19/84 NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Black Tiger. Simplistic match. Started strong, but it was mainly highspots without sequences and they lack the firepower to keep this up for 14 minutes. There was really no interplay between the two, just switching control when someone missed. Why is it that the junors in the early to mid 80's did tombstone piledrivers so much more impressive than we've seen since the Underfaker adopted it? Dynamite Kid, Tiger Mask, & Cobra all had totally wicked tombstones. Cobra, unfortunately, was not very creative at all. He did actually do a new move here that was like a huracanrana except he tried to hook his opponents back rather than their neck, but it looked really bad and despite winning with it he never did it in any of the other title matches. Good action, but you felt like it should have been better. 13:58. ***
11/1/84 Tokyo Taiikukan NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Black Tiger. This time they did a lot more mat wrestling, inserting short spurts of action in between. On one hand this made more sense, but on the other they probably avoided the mat in the previous match more because neither are that strong there. If the mat didn't seem like rest holds and would have led to some damage accumulating this would have exceeded the 10/19 match, but it wasn't well thought out and kind of flat. Tiger attacked Cobra after the match then came back and broke his trophy. Cobra fought back and got some revenge, though is trophy was still ruined. If they did this before their first match it would have heated up this one, but instead you had a somewhat dull match building to a rematch (12/28) that wasn't helped by it since it was in America (perhaps that wasn't known at the time though?). 13:49. **3/4
2/19/85 Honolulu, Hawaii NBC Arena NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Ricky Magnet 5:58. Magnet was short enough to be a junior, but round enough to bounce. And all along I thought the only juniors announced as weighing 245 pounds were ones that shared their father's first name. This was the basic do moves until you miss style that Cobra reverted to when he wasn't familiar with the opponent or the opponent wasn't good enough to do most of the dirtywork for him. It was passable since it was so short, but Magnet had no business in any title match and Cobra doesn't raise the level of any opponent. *1/4
Wonderland Junior #27
2/6/85 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Hiro Saito. Hiro was fairly athletic in these days and even seemed liked he belonged in this division. It's weird to write, but it was faster-paced and more exciting because of him. The match was good, but suddenly it had this terrible DQ out of nowhere. This was perhaps designed to get heat back onto the junior title matches, which were growing increasingly deader, but in any case no one reacted to Hiro's long post match attack. 11:21. **3/4
5/31/85 Saitama Omiya Shimin Taiikukan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Hiro Saito vs. Tony St. Claire. Danny Hodge was the ref and Cobra was watching from the front row. St. Claire was an old style technician that would have been a good opponent for Fujinami, but Hiro wasn't schooled in headlocks and headscissors. The crowd was dead and the match was a failure because of the style clash. Short and directionless. 8:48. *1/2
8/1/85 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Don Arakawa. Arakawa was really over. It must have been one of those in jokes like with Ryuma Go because he was laugh out loud bad. Ironically, when he was trying to do comedy he was never nearly this funny. Arakawa had a good martial arts stance, but he hit like a fairy. It's even so much how bad Arakawa does things, but that he looks so ridiculous doing them even when they come out the way he wants. Arakawa took just about nothing and sold even less, but after hitting his German suplex Cobra for some reason popped up and did his own German suplex for the win. 9:57. *
Wonderland #181
2/5/85 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Hulk Hogan 13:24. Meeting of the "best" Japan and US had to offer during the 80's could predictably be described as comical. One is completely serious and a master of his craft, the other is an artificial fruitcake concerned with everything but what he's purportedly there to do. The sad thing about this match is Hogan actually tried. He's such an inept technical wrestler it's funny, one often wonders how someone so amatuerish even made it out of wrestling school until they remember most of the promoters didn't care about wrestling either. Hogan actually executed a handful of moves credibly, and at least when he's a heel his constant stalling can be slightly justified as being done to incite the crowd (though of course we know he roided away what stamina he might have had). Hogan even bladed at the end. But any "highlight" was overwhelmed by minutes of clumsy boredom. *1/4
2/19/85 Honolulu, Hawaii NBC Arena NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Ricky Magnet 5:58. Magnet was short enough to be a junior, but round enough to bounce. And all along I thought the only juniors announced as weighing 245 pounds were ones that shared their father's first name. This was the basic do moves until you miss style that Cobra reverted to when he wasn't familiar with the opponent or the opponent wasn't good enough to do most of the dirtywork for him. It was passable since it was so short, but Magnet had no business in any title match and Cobra doesn't raise the level of any opponent. *1/4
3/8/85 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan
Umanosuke Ueda & Hiro Saito vs. Strong Machines 7:51. Out of control brawl. Ueda & Hiro can wreak some havoc, but they were overwhelmed by the Machine army, which was 4 plus manager Wakamatsu. Ueda bled early and Hiro bled heavily, his fake white hair colored red by the time the Machines were stopped. Not a good match, but it accomplished what it set out to do and was something different. **
Antonio Inoki vs. David Schultz 9:33. Atrocious and phony. Schultz was given every opportunity to display his awful cartoonish overselling as Inoki dominated the match. For some reason Inoki couldn't keep his temper under control. Schultz second had to make the save and they beat Inoki up, driving his head into a table. 1/2*
NJPW Wonderland #182
3/8/85 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan: Hiroka Hara vs. Shunji Kosugi
3/22/85 Amagasaki Taiikukan: Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Bart Kelly & Mike Kelly
4/18/85 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Billy Jack (Haynes)
3/8/85: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Bad News Allen & Leroy Brown
NJPW Wonderland #183 taped 4/18/85 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan
1st Young Lion Cup Final: Keiichi Yamada vs. Shunji Kosugi
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Strong Machine #1
Wonderland #184
3/8/85 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan: Keiji Muto vs. Masahiro Chono 14:22. 5 months into their career you could already see that at least Muto was going to be top notch. Solid well executed match. A bit dull, but they mixed things up pretty well and usually had something going on. Muto was such a great athlete that he was allowed to do some high spots, finishing Chono off with his space rolling elbow then moonsault. If they didn't have big plans for him he could already have been pushed in the junior division (granted it was at it's weakest). Chono was fine, but he didn't have an identity or a style yet, he seemed to be well trained but lack a direction. **
4/18/85 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody 26:16. These two worked extremely well together, and the match was elevated by the fans eating everything they did up. Just amazing heat. Inoki wore an athletic supporter under a mass of tape on his bum left arm, which Brody went right after, damaging it with a powerslam of all things. Inoki's rare offense knocked Brody back, but not off his feat. Even the first enzuigiri only staggered him. The second knocked him briefly onto one knee, but finally the third knocked him down onto both knees. Unfortunately they failed to capitalize on what they set up early, with the arm totally forgotten and Inoki having blown his best move to minimal effect. The fans stayed highly involved though, and get particularly excited when Inoki applies the manjigatame. They get something going again when some big spots lead to a Brody knee injury. Brody is one of the few no sellers that is actually a good seller and utilizes no selling to make it meaningful when he does indeed sell. As Inoki continued to attack the appendage Brody actually got a bloody knee. Brody is so tough that even beating on him takes something from the opponent, with Inoki being too spent to cover immediately on his backdrop allowing Brody to just kick out. They kept teasing every form of screw job, which was supposed to add to the drama, and did get reactions, but the problem was this was what you dreaded. The beginning was excellent, but didn't set up the match they did. The ending was excellent, but the egos prevent them from providing closure. The middle was somewhat wasted, but had enough good (for them) moves to keep things interesting. ***1/2
NJPW Wonderland #185 taped 4/85
Shunji Kosugi vs. Tatsutoshi Goto
Tatsumi Fujinami & Shunji Takano vs. Strong Machine 1 & 2
5/10/85 Fukuoka Sports Center: Kantaro Hoshino & The Cobra vs. El Canek & Hiro Saito
Antonio Inoki vs. Billy Jack
NJPW Wonderland #187 taped 5/10/85 Fukuoka Sports Center
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Andre The Giant & Jimmy Snuka
4/85: Kengo Kimura & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Dick Murdock & Adrian Adonis
5/24/85 Kobe World Kinen Hall: Antonio Inoki vs. Andre The Giant
NJPW Wonderland #188 taped 5/31/85 Omiya Shimin Taiikukan
Seiji Sakaguchi & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Pedro Morales & El Canek
Andre The Giant vs. SS Machine
WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Hiro Saito vs. Tony St. Clair
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Dick Murdock & Adrian Adonis & King Kong Bundy
Wonderland #191
6/11/85 Tokyo Taiikukan: Shunji Takano vs. SS Machine
6/7/85 Matsumotoshi Sogo Taiikukan: Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura vs. Hulk Hogan & Mike Sharpe
6/28/85 Hoshikawa Prince Hotel Ice Arena: SS Machine vs. Strong Machine No. 2
NJ Wonderland #194
8/16/85 taped 8/3 Hawaii Aloha Stadium: Jimmy Snuka vs. Larry Sharpe. 2 minute squash.
8/2/85 taped 7/28 Osaka Jo Hall
NWA Sekai & WWF Nintei Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: The Cobra (NWA champ) vs. Hiro Saito (WWF champ). Hiro showed nothing. Cobra tried hard, but had nothing to work with. The first match was really slow paced and rather dull with an awful screw job finish. They restarted the match and it was much faster paced and more exciting, but unfortunately this only lasted a couple minutes. Cobra unifies the titles. *1/2
Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody. Brody totally dominated, with the fans cheering the whole time for Inoki to come back. The pace wasn't very fast, but they did do a lot of "big" moves in the last 4-5 minutes. Good match largely due to Brody, but the finish sucked. **1/2
NJ Wonderland #193 7/26/85 taped 7/26 Hirosaki Shi Min Taiikukan
Shunji Takano & Super Strong Machine vs. Strong Machines. Basic match with a lot of punches and kicks. Takano and SS Machine had the expected break up, with Machine leaving Takano so it was 2-1. For some reason SS came back after the match and saved Takano from further beating. **1/4
Jimmy Snuka vs. Kengo Kimura. Uneventful. *
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bruiser Brody & King Kong Bundy. Good match when Brody was in, but Bundy was always horrible. *1/2
NJ Wonderland #195
7/28/85 Osaka Jo Hall: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Jimmy Snuka
8/1/85 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Don Arakawa
8/3/85 Hawaii Aloha Stadium: Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody
NJ Wonderland #196 taped 8/1/85 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Jimmy Snuka
Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody
Wonderland #197 taped 8/3/85 Hawaii Aloha Stadium
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Jerry Fulton & Gene Lewis
WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Superfly Tui. Another short match with a finish out of nowhere. Tui, who was in the division by size rather than style, showed nothing. Too often they didn't know what the other guy was planning to do next and couldn't react. 7:15. *
King Kong Bundy & Mark Lewin & Kevin Sullivan vs. Andre The Giant & Steve "The Kid" Keirn & Angelo Mosca
8/30/85: Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Giant Machine & Super Machine
Wonderland #198
8/3/85 Hawaii Aloha Stadium: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Matt Borne
8/30/85
Keiichi Yamada vs. Shunji Kosugi. A rematch from 4/18/85 when Kosugi defeated Yamada to capture the Young Lion Cup.
WWF International Tag Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Kerry Brown & Hacksaw Higgins
Keiji Muto & Don Arakawa vs. Umanosuke Ueda & Tony St. Clair
Wonderland #199
9/19/85 Tokyo Taiikukan: Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Giant Machine & Super Machine
9/6/85
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Super Machine
Antonio Inoki vs. Giant Machine
Wonderland #200
10/4/85 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Seiji Sakaguchi & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Bad News Allen & Roger Smith
9/19/85 Tokyo Taiikukan: Antonio Inoki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
Wonderland #201
10/4/85 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Rambo Sakurada & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Conga The Barbarian & Rick Oliver. Sakurada, the future Kendo Nagasaki, & Goto form a team known as The Rising Suns.
9/85 Fukuoka Sports Center
Keiji Muto vs. Tony St. Clair
Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Kerry Brown & Hacksaw Higgins
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Giant Machine & Super Machine
Wonderland Junior #28
8/3/85 Hawaii Aloha Stadium WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Superfly Tui. Another short match with a finish out of nowhere. Tui, who was in the division by size rather than style, showed nothing. Too often they didn't know what the other guy was planning to do next and couldn't react. 7:15. *
10/4/85 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Fishman. The basic problems with Cobra are he doesn't string things together, isn't good at playing off much less to his opponent, and is sloppy. Though deliberate and lacking spontaneity, the match succeeded when they were running around. More often it was the slower more submission oriented Fishman stuff, which Cobra made no attempt to counter. What was good about the match is it had some nice moves that were uncommon at the time like Fishman doing the Ligerbomb, Cobra doing the 2 kaiten ebigatame (the Toyota move where she rolls up her standing opponents body and over into a sunset flip) and a Tiger suplex (though it was very sloppy). 16:44. **1/4
2/3/84 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center WWF Junior Heavyweight Crown Decision League Match: Dynamite Kid vs. Davey Boy Smith. Kind of an odd match. It started out like it was going to be a classic, totally died in the middle with a bunch of pointless restmissions, then made a comeback but still never approached its stellar start. These two were obviously very familar with each other, and were able to put together excellent sequences with precise timing and execution. Unfortunately, they went away from this style and into something far more familiar, and thus less interesting and good. 14:08. ***1/2
Wonderland Junior #29
7/28/85 Osaka Jo Hall NWA & WWF Junior Heavyweight Double Title Match: The Cobra vs. Hiro Saito. Hiro not only kept the match moving, but his heel tactics got Cobra to be more aggressive. What hurt the match is Kotetsu Yamamoto actually DQing Hiro for not breaking by the 5 count. Of course they restarted it, but this portion was so short and slow. 12:30, 2:26. ***
10/31/85 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Don Arakawa. Arakawa had become more of a "wrestler" and less of a martial artist by ths point. The match was better due to this because Arakawa's martial arts was laughable and Cobra can't even put that style over. Arakawa wasn't over at all though. The fans did giggle at times, for instance when he hurt his head by German suplexing Cobra onto his face. Cobra had more offense here, which was an improvement even though Arakawa takes even worse. 13:30. *1/2
NJ Tadakai no Wonderland ~Showa Hen~ # 207 4/26/00 taped 12/20/85 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
Jimmy Snuka vs. Kengo Kimura
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bruiser Brody
12/26/85 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka vs. Dick Murdock & Masked Superstar
Wonderland Takada #3 8/1/99 originally aired 3/28/86 taped 3/26/86 Tokyo Taiikukan
5 vs. 5 Jikan Museigen (unlimited time) Elimination Match: Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & Umanosuke Ueda & Kantaro Hoshino. Incredible atmosphere because the crowd reactions were unreal. ****1/2
Wonderland Takada #6
8/5/86 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka
8/7/86 Toyohashi Sports Center, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
5 vs. 5 Jikan Museigen (unlimited time) Elimination Match: Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & Umanosuke Ueda & Kantaro Hoshino. Incredible atmosphere because the crowd reactions were unreal. ****1/2
Wonderland Takada #4
5/1/86 Shin Nihon vs. UWF 5 vs. 5 Single Kachinogisen: Seiji Sakaguchi & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & Shiro Koshinaka & Keiichi Yamada vs. Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki.
a) Yamada vs. Takada. Long very well worked UWF segment. Dull for Takada, but that made for a better match because it was more solid and believable with offense being hard to come by. As the match progressed, Takada, of course, found a few openings for his strikes. Once he put Yamada down he'd flurry on him as soon as he got up. Yamada was overmatched, but he showed a lot of heart and gained something despite the one-sided nature. 14:26
b) Sakaguchi vs. Takada. Sakaguchi wanted to work on the ground so his legs didn't get kicked out. After those token kicks by Takada at the outset, he was done for. Sakaguchi, of course, looked bad. His ground work was extremely fake because he has no flexibility. 4:41
c) Sakaguchi vs. Yamazaki. Waste of Yamazaki, who was real good in just making this watchable. He worked Sakaguchi's ankle, but Sakaguchi wanted to block everything so he didn't have to sell. Yamazaki was given one chance when he did a backdrop into udehishigigyakujujigatame. 5:26
d) Sakaguchi vs. Kido. Kido was fine, but Sakaguchi is a disaster. He has no energy, so he blew up here in spite of his first two "matches" being so easy on him. Kido kicked Sakaguchi when they went to lock up, then Sakaguchi just stood there hunched over jerking his head when Kido's subsequent kicks approached. Adding to the realism of the match, Kido didn't appear to hit Sakaguchi's knee when Sakaguchi atomic dropped him. 3:34
e) Koshinaka vs. Kido. Koshinaka brought the life back to the match right away, starting with a segment on the floor where he piledrove Kido. Had its ups and downs, but overall a good portion. They worked well together, mixing junior spots with more technical stuff. 8:11
Wonderland Takada #5
f) Kimura vs. Kido. Nothing portion. No energy. They didn't just lie around, but it was like they finished before they started. 4:42
g) Kimura vs. Fujiwara. Kimura attacked when Fujiwara was entering, throwing him to the floor and bloodying him. He attacked the cut, even digging into it to open it up more. Fujiwara came back with his headbutts anyway. Decent segment. The best stuff was early, then after a lull they did a dramatic finish with Kimura inching his way toward the ropes but having to succumb before he could quite reach them. 7:31
h) Fujinami vs. Fujiwara. Fujiwara got revenge, bloodying Fujinami with a piledriver on the floor. They were really laying it on thick with Fujinami supposedly verging on passing out from blood loss. Somehow when they finally reentered Fujinami managed to pull a backslide out of nowhere for the win. I thought Maeda was up next, but I guess that was it. The first portion was of the match was by far the best, but after that they wasted the talented guys and got away from what makes NJ vs. UWF good in favor of theatrics. 8:46
6/17/86 Nagoya Aichi-ken Gymnasium IWGP Junior Title: Takada vs. The Cobra. Great match. Takada's kicks were so stiff it was taking over the junior division by kicking Cobra right out. Takada was super over, and this had great heat. Cobra's best stuff was early in his tenure, but the gimmick was a failure and it was more than time for a change. Cobra was up for the match, which ironically was the best of his junior title bouts, even though is job was mainly getting the stuffing kicked out of him. 21:32. ****1/2
NJ Wonderland #219 taped 6/6/86 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
4th IWGP Koshikisen: Akira Maeda vs. Umanosuke Ueda
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Andre The Giant & Cuban Assassin
IWGP Tag Senshukenjiai: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Jimmy Snuka & Wild Samoan 17:59. My opinion of Snuka seems to show what I looked for in wrestling from different countries. The American wrestling of the time was so boring that Snuka and his few impressive flying moves really stood out. In Japan I expect good technical wrestling, so what stands out about Snuka is he's all rest holds. Still, Snuka carried his team and supplied the only quality on their end, though that's because it was incredibly Tame when Wild was in. Fujinami & Kimura were as always, a lot of generally uninspiring matwork and a few basic but very well done athletic spots before a hot minute or two at the finish. **1/4
NJ Wonderland #223
5/1/86 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki & Umanosuke Ueda vs. Andre The Giant & Shogun KY Wakamatsu
6/12/86 Osaka Jo Hall, 4th IWGP Koshikisen: Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Wonderland #224 taped 6/12/86 Osaka Jo Hall
Seiji Sakaguchi & Umanosuke Ueda & Kengo Kimura vs. Andre The Giant & Dick Murdock & Masked Superstar
4th IWGP Koshikisen: Akira Maeda vs. Tatsumi Fujinami 22:02. They pulled out all the stops to make this intense highly dramatic match one of the top NJ heavyweight matches of the decade. Largely UWF style, which given Fujinami was Maeda's opponent isn't too much different than NJ style anyway. In any case they established UWF right off the bat, so when they did a brief sequence of jumping kicks the fans exploded. The progression was very smart, especially early on. Fujinami's knee was injured from a kneebar and he had trouble getting back to his feet, so Maeda attacked the knee. Fujinami rope escaped a later kneebar, but when he got up Maeda was waiting with a series of high kicks. From here on Maeda tried to exploit Fujinami's bad knee more for its immobility, making him an easier target for the kicks, than for submission. Fujinami wised up to Maeda's kicks, caught one, tripped him up, and tried for a submission. From here on Fujinami would use Maeda's proclivity to strike against him, attempting to win with the sasorigatame. Adding to the drama, Fujinami got a wicked cut near the eye from a Maeda's kneel kick, which Maeda followed by trying to defeat Fujinami with his own Dragon suplex. The one problem with this match was the finish, which though they went long and hard just did not feel earned. It felt very sudden, especially on Maeda's part because he seemed to be on a bit of a role. ****1/2
NJPW Wonderland Takada #7
9/5/86 taped 9/5/86 Chiba Koen Taiikukan: Nobuhiko Takada & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. George Takano & Shiro Koshinaka
10/6/86 taped 9/15 Osaka Jo Hall 5 vs. 5 Jikan Museigen Elimination Tag Match II NJ vs. UWF: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & George Takano & Shiro Koshinaka & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki
NJPW Wonderland Takada #8
9/19/86 Fukuoka Kokusai Center, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka 18:15. ****1/4
10/20/86: Nobuhiko Takada & Osamu Kido vs. Kengo Kimura & Shiro Koshinaka 16:17. **1/2
11/3/86 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Nobuhiko Takada & Osamu Kido vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Shinya Hashimoto 9:55. ***
NJ Wonderland #229 taped 8/5/86 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka. Takada & Koshinaka were dominant in their own styles. However, though Koshinaka knew he couldn't beat Takada in a striking and submission game, he refused to back down to make a statement about his toughness. He wound up doing Takada's match because he was too proud to practice shoot style evasion. They worked most of the bout within the well known UWF limitations, with Koshinaka hitting a lariat. To my eyes, the problem is they didn't really develop or work the transition to Koshinaka's fast paced junior style. In fact, Takada initiated it, ascending to the top rope for no reason only to get superplexed, which ushered in a really exciting segment of Koshinaka's offense that was really out of place in the otherwise kick and submission match. Takada brought the match back to submissions quick enough, but despite the crowds roaring approval, the match would have been much better if they either scrapped this segment or took the time to show Koshinaka putting his ego aside and just concentrating on winning the match by any means necessary. As it stands, though well worked, the match mostly comes off as goofy. ***1/4
IWGP Tag Senshuken: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido
Wonderland #230 taped 8/7/86 Nagoya Tsuyuhashi Sports Center
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshuken: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki 17:27. A junior title match that made no concessions to "junior" style. There was an attempt at a tombstone and a dropkick, the former blocked the later missed. So it was kick, submission, and suplex all the way. Yamazaki grew as a wrestler more than Takada did from this point, both were pretty equal workers here but Yamazaki didn't have the setup, timing, and transition of his peak. Thus in a way the match was a bit repetitive because they didn't get as much out of the limited offense as they could have, but on the other hand, and I feel more importantly, it's arguably the most unique IWGP Jr. match because it's strictly technical. The fans certainly didn't feel it was too long, the biggest "Yamazaki" chants were for him to escape the hold he ultimately submitted to. ****
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Alexei Smirnoff 7:29. Disappointingly brief match. Fujinami comes in with a scab on his lower back, so Smirnoff works over the back. They didn't waste time and the work was solid. **1/4
Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura vs. Steve Williams & Badnews Allen
Wonderland #231 taped ?/?/86 Mexico El Toreo De Cuatro Caminos
2/3 Falls: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. El Canek & Fishman 13:04, 5:32, 4:42. Typical 80s match starting weak but building to a strong albeit frustrating finish. Everyone paced themselves for a long match, but Fujinami was very intense still acted like he was putting effort into his holds, while Kimura did everything with the minimum energy required. These two are as good as they want to be, and Kimura was good when he picked it up but there was too much wasted time, especially between falls. Up until the 3rd fall Fujinami's team wrestled technically while the Luchadores kicked and punched. Fishman picked it up in the third fall with his tope and regular highspots, and the third fall continued to be excellent. He seemed more into it than Canek, but Canek vs. Fujinami was really good down the stretch, going back and forth for a surprising amount of near finishes. Fujinami & Canek had swapped falls, and Kimura & Fishman fought outside for minutes letting them tease the decisive fall in a manner usually reserved for title matches. ***1/4
Wonderland #232 taped 9/16/86 Osaka Jo Hall
Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody 44:29 of 60:00. Shockingly good match where they attempted to do a match of the year and effort overcame skill. The quantity was certainly there, but so was their best quality. One would think this would seem very long, but it didn't because the finish was always near moves wise, even if you figured neither would do the job. Lots of action, especially considering the length. Both men showed tremendous stamina, especially considering age and size. Both threw everything at their opponent, but neither would stay down long. Brody was highly motivated, putting thought, nuance, and timing into his performance. He did a good job of mixing his selling of his knee with his usual no selling, particularly when Inoki would strike him and he'd make it look like he was forced to sell the knee because it was just in such bad shape. Inoki was mediocre in the first half, trying a lot of jumping moves with suspect accuracy, but came on pretty strong in the 2nd half. He certainly put all he had into it, and though that often hasn't been enough, in this case the booking and the crowd elevated it to another level. If Brody's performance ever approached this level again, it's in a match I've yet to see. ****
Wonderland #233 taped 9/19/86 Fukuoka Kokusai Center
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka
9/16/86 Osaka Jo Hall: Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody. Digest
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bruiser Brody
Antonio Inoki vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Wonderland #234 taped 10/13/86 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
10/9/86 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Kengo Kimura vs. Lance Von Erich
Kengo Kimura & George Takano vs. Conga The Barbarian & The Jackal
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Keiji Muto
Antonio Inoki vs. Steve Williams
Puroresu vs. Boxing: Antonio Inoki vs. Leon Spinks. Outside of WCW's attempts at mixed matches (especially involving Johnny Punches Badd), this is about as bad as it can get. Spinks punches were so incredibly fake looking. He simply had less than no ability in a work. Inoki was exceptionally bad as well. Basically, this match consisted of three rounds of horribly fake boxing then Inoki started going for takedowns. The finish was particularly horrible, as Spinks wouldn't take the bump on a suplex. Instead, he just went to his back when Inoki set it up and Inoki literally laid on top of him for a five count. What made this so ridiculous was Spinks wasn't hurt at all, and there was no finishing move. I mean, two seconds ago Spinks was dancing around the ring. Suddenly he goes to his back and Inoki does something that could very marginally be construed as tying Spinks up, although even then this cover would make the Delfin clutch the equivalent of being put in a straight jacket, and Spinks doesn't even make the slightest attempt to kick out. -***
Puroresu vs. Martial Arts: Akira Maeda vs. Don Nakaya Nielsen. This match did a ton for Maeda because he proved his ability in a "shoot" and smoked Inoki's match on a show that drew a 28.9 prime time rating. Maeda was incredibly over and this had a ton of heat. The match was exciting, but it wasn't nearly as good as I had been led to believe. Probably the "problem" is that shooting has evolved so much in the past 13 years that this has been so far surpassed. It played really well then, but today it's more worth seeing for historical purposes. Mixed matches in New Japan have traditionally been horrible, and this certainly wasn't, so I'm sure that has partially attributed to it's legend. In any case, for heat, drama, intensity, and excitement, this match ranks pretty high. However, it doesn't look like a shoot by today's terms, particularly all the movie kicks Nielson was doing (although at least Maeda avoided them). From a technical standpoint, I wasn't particularly impressed. It just seemed like the substance couldn't come close the aura. Neilson's performance was very impressive for a name from another sports world coming into pro wrestling, so the match probably could have been better than it was. There are two spots from this match that really worked, the round ending while Maeda has Neilson trapped in a wakigatame and the finish because of Nielson's dramatic pained expression. There's no doubt in my mind that Yamazaki vs. Clarke 1/10/89 is better than this, although it didn't make nearly the impact. The match still looks good today, but Maeda's "shoot" matches against Takada & Han make much better viewing. I'm not sure how to rate this match. By today's standards, it's around ***. However, ratings should be done based on the time period the match is from, which would probably make it around ****
This details the key events in NJ from 1981-1986. Everything is shown in highlight form, typically lasting about a minute. Tons of Inoki, Fujinami, and Choshu.
Wonderland #233 taped 9/19/86 Fukuoka Kokusai Center
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka
9/16/86 Osaka Jo Hall: Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody. Digest
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bruiser Brody
Antonio Inoki vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Wonderland #234 taped 10/13/86 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
10/9/86 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Kengo Kimura vs. Lance Von Erich
Kengo Kimura & George Takano vs. Conga The Barbarian & The Jackal
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Keiji Muto
Antonio Inoki vs. Steve Williams
Wonderland #236 taped 12/10/86 Osaka Jo Hall
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshuken: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Kazuo Yamazaki 21:50. Intense highly technical match with impressive movement on the mat largely due to Yamazaki. Koshinaka got off to a quick start with hip attacks then they took it to the mat and the match got progressively slower during the first 11 minutes. Yamazaki then teased a dive, one of many effective teases. Went back and forth with neither being able to sustain and advantage and both having legitimate chances to win. They weren't able to hurt each other either, so it seemed it would come down to whoever caught their opponent off guard or got lucky. In these days wrestlers still knew how to do a match to get over a finish, particularly one that wasn't with a finisher. This is a perfect example of how not winning with a finisher can be more exciting because by opening up other possibilities rather than the usual narrowing down to a few the intensity and drama can be increased and multiplied. When you can believe because they allow you to but you aren't sure because it's more based on being trapped or caught off guard than incapacitated there can be several edge of the seat moments. Fans were pro Shiro, but popped for all the near finishes. Yamazaki really brought a lot to this match, but Koshinaka also deserves a ton of credit for his ability to work the style of the UWF fighters. ****
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura 12:36. Big disappointment. Rather than develop the technical end they just sat in holds. Then it finally looked like it would get good with Kimura doing his big moves, but Fujinami flash pinned him out of nowhere. **
Wonderland #237 taped 12/10/86 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
'86 Japan Cup Sodatsu Tag League Winner Advances To Championship Match: Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido vs. Dick Murdock & Masked Superstar
'86 Japan Cup Sodatsu Tag League Yushosen: Antonio Inoki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido
Wonderland #238 taped 1/2/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
12/10/86 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Tatsumi Fujinami & Keiji Muto vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Mr. Pogo
Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido vs. Buzz Sawyer & Bret Sawyer
Antonio Inoki & Keiji Muto vs. Conga The Barbarian & Black Bart
NJ Tadakai no Wonderland ~Nobuhiko Takada~ #10 9/19/99
2/9/87 taped 2/9 Gifu Sangyo Kaikan: Nobuhiko Takada & Osamu Kido & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Shiro Koshinaka & George Takano & Tatsu Goto
3/2/87 taped 3/2 Soka Shi Sports Kenko (health) Toshi (city/town) Sogo Taiikukan IWGP Oza Sodatsu Leaguesen: Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Mr. Pogo
3/26/87 taped 3/26 Osaka Jo Hall: Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Keiji Muto
NJ Tadakai no Wonderland ~Chosenshi Gekiko Hen~ #561 9/21/99 aired 2/27/93 taped 2/?/93 Okayama Budokan
Shiro Koshinaka & Kengo Kimura vs. Riki Choshu & Akira Nogami
Tony Halme & Brad Armstrong vs. Hiroshi Hase & Keiji Muto
NJ Tadakai no Wonderland ~Showa Hen~ #148 10/1/99
10/14/83 taped 10/14 Osaka-fu Rinkai Sports Center: Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi & Yoshiaki Yatsu
11/4/83 taped 11/3 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan
Killer Khan vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu
NJ Tadakai no Wonderland ~Nobuhiko Takada Hen~ #11 10/3/99
12/7/87 taped 12/7 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Nobuhiko Takada & Keiji Muto vs. Kerry Von Erich & Kevin Von Erich
12/28/87 taped 12/28 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Riki Choshu & Super Strong Machine & Kuniaki Kobayashi
1/11/88 taped 1/?/88 Kunantani Shi Min Taiikukan: Antonio Inoki & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Steve Williams & Owen Hart
Takada was awesome in the mid 1980's with NJ, and these are some of his best matches. Takada had such an aura even back then, as all but one match is after he returned to NJ after the first incarnation of the UWF folded. This tape shows a different side to the NJ junior division because there isn't one match on here that's about flying. This makes the matches on this tape seem much less dated because stiffness, psychology, crispness, and heat are never really dated, while high spots age fast because the bar is continually raised. What's cool about this tape is many of the matches are shown in complete form.
8/12/83 Calgary Victoria Pavilion: Takada vs. Anthole Foley. Foley was unimpressive, dominating the match mainly through cheating. Takada finally came back with a flurry in the last two minutes to put him away.
6/17/86 Nagoya Aichi-ken Gymnasium IWGP Junior Title: Takada vs. The Cobra. Great match. Takada's kicks were so stiff it was taking over the junior division by kicking Cobra right out. Takada was super over, and this had great heat. Cobra was always a really underrated wrestler, but in this case, that this match was great wasn't his doing.
8/5/86 Tokyo Sumo Hall IWGP Jr. Title: Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka. This was joined about 15 minutes in, so it was the typical hot Shiro finishing sequence with near falls back and forth for the 6:17 shown.
8/17/86 IWGP Jr. Title: Takada vs. Yamazaki. Very good UWF style match that was a precursor to what these two would go on to do in the ring together in UWF & UWF-I.
9/19/86 Fukuoka Sports Center IWGP Jr. Title: Takada vs. Shiro. Only 4:39 was shown, but this appeared to be an incredible match with super heat. Shiro won the title here.
2/5/87 Tokyo Sumo Hall IWGP Jr. Title: Shiro vs. Takada. This is my favorite of the matches vs. Shiro on this tape. The psychology was strong and I liked the storyline of Shiro concentrating on Takada's fingers because it was effective and different. Takada couldn't really get any offense off because everytime they locked up Shiro went back to the fingers. Eventually Takada puts Shiro down with a high kick, but rather than let him up he starts kicking him fiercely. Finish really worked for me because the whole match built up to it.
3/20/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall IWGP Tag Team Title League '87 Final: Maeda & Takada vs. Koshinaka & Muto. Good match with a hybrid style.
8/19/87 Tokyo Sumo Hall IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament Round 1: Takada vs. Yamada. Clip.
8/20/87 Tokyo Sumo Hall IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament Semifinal: Takada vs. Yamazaki. 2 ½ minutes shown.
8/20/87 Tokyo Sumo Hall IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament Final: Takada vs. Kobayashi. Kobayashi really wasn't over and his offense looked so weak compared to Takada's. The early portion was nothing much with Kobayashi doing matwork, but it turned into a good match with hot near falls back and forth before Kobayashi won the tournament.
3/11/88 Nagoya Aichi-ken Gymnasium IWGP Junior Title: Hase vs. Takada. Great match with such precise execution and superb technical work. Basically a technical masterpiece with great heat. On this night, these two looked like the two best workers in the world. They actually did a ref bump so when Takada pinned Hase with his Dragon suplex, there was no one but the fans to count the pinfall.
IWGP Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody
Tatsumi Fujinami & Keiji Muto vs. Buzz & Brett Wayne Sawyer
Bruiser Brody vs. Dick Murdock
Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Mr. Pogo & Kendo Nagasaki
NJ World Pro Wrestling 5/9/92 EXPLOSION TOUR '92 taped 4/30/92
Top of the Super Jr. III Semifinal: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Norio Honaga
Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Akitoshi Saito
Top of the Super Jr. III Final: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. El Samurai. *****
NJ World Pro Wrestling 7/23/94 '94 Summer Struggle taped 7/8 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. The Great Sasuke. Great match.
Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase vs. Steiner Brothers
NJ Classics on FIGHTING TV SAMURAI! 10/29/97 taped 6/12/86 Osaka Jo Hall
Andre The Giant & Dick Murdock & Masked Superstar vs. Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura & Umanosuke Ueda
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Akira Maeda. Great match.
Tadakai No Wonderland Akira Maeda #14 7/11/99
3/16/87 Okazaki Shi Min Taiikukan: Akira Maeda vs. Steve Williams. Short match with a crummy screw job finish. *
3/20/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall IWGP Tag Title League Final: Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Keiji Muto. Koshinaka & Muto win titles. ****1/4
3/26/87 Osaka Jo Hall IWGP Tag Senshukenjiai: Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Keiji Muto. Maeda & Takada win titles. ***1/4
Tadakai No Wonderland ~Chosenshi Gekiko Hen~ #533 7/13/99 originally aired 8/15/92 '92 G1 Climax taped 8/11 & 8/12/92 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
8/11 '92 G1 Climax 2nd Round
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Rick Rude. 4:46 shown. Decent
Keiji Muto vs. Masa Chono. 4:14 shown. Excellent
8/12 '92 G1 Climax Kesshosen NWA World Heavyweight Title Decision Tournament Final
Rick Rude vs. Masa Chono. *3/4
NJ Wonderland #243 taped 3/9/87 Tokushima Kenritsu Taiikukan
Tatsumi Fujinami & Osamu Kido vs. Sheepherders
IWGP Tag Oza Kettei Leagusen: Tatsumi Fujinami & George Takano vs. Steve Williams & Rick Steiner
Antonio Inoki & Keiji Muto vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Mr. Pogo
3/20/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
3rd Young Lion Hai Yushoketteisen: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masahiro Chono
IWGP Tag Oza Ketteisen: Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Keiji Muto & Shiro Koshinaka
Wonderland #246 taped 3/20/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Antonio Inoki vs. Kendo Nagasaki
3/26/87 Osaka Jo Hall IWGP Tag Senshukenjiai: Keiji Muto & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada
8/19/87 4th IWGP Junior Champion Decision Tournament 1st Round:
Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Norio Honaga
Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Masaharu Funaki
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Hiro Saito
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Keiichi Yamada
5 vs. 5 Elimination Match: Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kantaro Hoshino & Keiji Muto vs. Riki Choshu & Tatsumi Fujinami & Akira Maeda & Kengo Kimura & Super Strong Machine
8/20/87 4th IWGP Junior Champion Decision Tournament Semifinals:
Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Tatsutoshi Goto
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
Final: Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Nobuhiko Takada
Antonio Inoki & Keiji Muto vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Riki Choshu
Animal Hamaguchi retirement ceremony
NJ Wonderland #247 taped 3/26/87 Osaka Jo Hall
Antonio Inoki vs. Masa Saito
NJ Wonderland # 248 10/12/87 Osaka Rinkai Sports Center
Keiichi Yamada & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Manny Fernandez
Keiji Muto & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Riki Choshu & Super Strong Machine
NJ Wonderland #249 taped 10/13/87
Nobuhiko Takada & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Super Strong Machine & Hiro Saito. Got off to a slow start, but was a solid match that kept getting better and better. The outcome became important as the match progressed and the wrestlers got psyched up and more desperate to win. 14:12. ***1/4
Keiji Muto vs. Steve Williams. They did very well running or off Irish whips, with Williams power vs. Muto's athleticism. It was pretty lame and pointless on the mat though. Still, I think it could have been quite good if they gave it some time and developed it, even though Williams was a far cry from 1993 form in these days. 7:35. **1/4
Antonio Inoki & Keiichi Yamada vs. Riki Choshu & Tatsumi Fujinami. Yamada was all fired up, excited about showing a total lack of respect for his elders. He was using his speed and quickness to try to embarrass them, but then Fujinami held him and Choshi used his Riki lariat then another for the win. 1:12
Handicap Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Riki Choshu. They did a second match since Inoki never got into the first. Even Inoki wasn't good enough to take Fujinami & Choshu 2-1. However, Fujinami & Choshu couldn't get along for long enough to take him out since both wanted to be the one that went over Inoki. Each saved Inoki once then it broke down. 4:42
NJ Wonderland #250 taped 10/26/87
Shiro Koshinaka & Keiichi Yamada vs. Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga
Riki Choshu & Super Strong Machine vs. Bad News Allen & Eli The Eliminator
Antonio Inoki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Keiji Muto vs. Conga The Barbarian & Manny Fernandez & Steve Cash
NJ Wonderland #251 taped 10/25/87 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
IWGP Heavykyu Senshuken: Antonio Inoki vs. Steve Williams
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu
NJ Wonderland #252 taped 10/25/87 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Shiro Koshinaka & Keiichi Yamada vs. Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki
taped 11/9/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Seiji Sakaguchi & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Mr. Pogo
Keiji Muto vs. Dick Murdock
NJ Wonderland #253
10/4/87 Island Death Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Masa Saito
10/5/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu
NJ Wonderland #254 taped 11/9/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
'87 Japan Cup Tag League Koshikisen: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Masa Saito & Riki Choshu
Antonio Inoki vs. Masa Saito. The famous "Island death match"
World Pro Wrestling Special taped 10/4/87 & 10/5/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
10/4 Island Death Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Masa Saito
10/5: Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
World Pro Wrestling taped 10/12/87 Osaka Furitsu Rinkai Sports Center
Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga vs. Tatsutoshi Goto & Keiichi Yamada (Liger)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Manny Fernandez
Riki Choshu & Super Strong Machine vs. Nobuhiko Takada & Keiji Muto
Wonderland Foreigners Steve Williams
10/19/87: Steve Williams vs. Keiji Muto
12/6/89 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Steve Williams vs. Shinya Hashimoto
12/11/90 Nagoya Rainbow Hall: Steve Williams vs. Masahiro Chono
Tatsumi Fujinami & Osamu Kido vs. Masa Saito & Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Keiji Muto & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kevin Von Erich & Kerry Von Erich
NJ Wonderland #257
12/3/87 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Shiro Koshinaka & Kazuo Yamazaki & Keiichi Yamada vs. Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga & Kensuke Sasaki
6/9/87 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
12/4/87 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Riki Choshu & Super Strong Machine & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada
NJ Wonderland #258
6/29/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
12/27/87 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Keiichi Yamada vs. Masakatsu Funaki
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshuken: Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Hiroshi Hase
Carlos Amano vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki. Carlos did a good job of carrying Kuragaki, but it was at the expense of her submission holds credibility. *3/4
JWP Junior Oza Ketteileaguesen: Maya Hashimoto vs. Yuka Nakamura (Neo). Digest
Devil Masami & Acute Sae vs. Command Bolshoi & Kayoko Haruyama. Digest
Ran Yu-Yu vs. Lioness Asuka (free). A disappointing match because Lan wasn't allowed to any kind of match for Lioness. **
Dynamite Kansai vs. Morimatsu (Jd'). Totally one-sided squash. DUD
JWP Nintei Musabetsukyu Senshuken: Azumi Hyuga vs. Kana Mizaki. Both women gave good performanes, but did nothing exceptional to generate the match quality or excitement needed to make the title match special. ***
Antonio Inoki vs. Big Van Vader. This was a really simple match; plodding, deliberate, and at times very contrived. However, it was laid out perfectly to get Vader really over without hurting Inoki's reputation.
Owen Hart vs. Pegasus Kid. A solid match, but, considering who was involved, I was looking for something longer, stiffer, and flashier. ***
Rey Misterio, Jr. vs. Psicosis. This is a great match, but somehow I only ended up with the 3rd fall.
NJ Wonderland #259
12/27/87 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada
1/4/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Antonio Inoki vs. Big Van Vader
NJ Wonderland #260 taped 1/4/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Hiroshi Hase vs. Owen Hart
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Masa Saito
taped 1/11/88
Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Big Van Vader & Masa Saito
NJ Wonderland #261 taped 1/11/88
Riki Choshu vs. Buzz Sawyer
Antonio Inoki & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Steve Williams & Owen Hart
1/25/88 Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Keiichi Yamada
NJ Wonderland #262 taped 1/25/88
Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
Handicap Match: Vader vs. George Takano & Kantaro Hoshino
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. "Cowboy" Bob Orton
NJ Wonderland #263 taped 1/25/88
Riki Choshu & Masa Saito & Hiroshi Hase vs. Steve Williams & Buzz Sawyer & Owen Hart
taped 2/1/88
Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Hiroshi Hase
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Big Van Vader & Masa Saito
NJ Wonderland #264 taped 2/1/88
Riki Choshu vs. "Cowboy" Bob Orton
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Buzz Sawyer & Owen Hart
2/4/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Nobuhiko Takada
Wonderland #265 taped 2/4/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Hiroshi Hase vs. Keiichi Yamada
Handicap Match: Big Van Vader & Masa Saito vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido & Kazuo Yamazaki
2/5/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Hiroshi Hase vs. Nobuhiko Takada
Wonderland #266 taped 2/4/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
IWGP Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Antonio Inoki vs. Riki Choshu
taped 2/5/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito
Wonderland #267 taped 2/5/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Handicap Match: Big Van Vader vs. Seiji Sakaguchi & Kantaro Hoshino
taped 2/7/88 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Hiroshi Hase vs. Shiro Koshinaka
IWGP Tag Senshukenjiai: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Riki Choshu & Super Strong Machine
Wonderland #268 taped 2/7/88 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Antonio Inoki vs. Big Van Vader
taped 3/11/88 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
Riki Choshu & Masa Saito vs. Billy Gaspar & Barry Gaspar
Antonio Inoki & Dick Murdock vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura
Wonderland #269 taped 3/11/88 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Hiroshi Hase vs. Nobuhiko Takada
taped 3/19/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Antonio Inoki vs. Billy Gaspar
Wonderland #270
1/23/78 NY, NY Madison Square Garden WWWF Junior Heavyweight Title Decision Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Carlos Estrada
5/9/80 Fukuoka Sports Center WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Chavo Guerrero
2/6/85 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Hulk Hogan
10/25/87 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu
12/12/85 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center: Clip of Fujinami pinning Inoki in a tag match
Hase vs. Owen Hart, Yamada vs. Funaki, Hase vs. Koshinaka, Koshinaka vs. Takada, Hase vs. Takada, Hase vs. Koshinaka-Shiro wins Top of Super Jr.
Wonderland Takada #13
1/25/88 Top of the Super Junior League Match: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki 14:07. ***1/2
2/15/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, Top of the Super Junior League Match: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka 20:33. ****
Wonderland Takada #14
2/22/88 taped 2/22 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Top Of The Super Junior Koshiksen: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Hiroshi Hase
3/14/88 taped 3/11 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Hiroshi Hase vs. Nobuhiko Takada
Wonderland #271 taped 3/19/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & George Takano vs. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito & Super Strong Machine
5/7/88 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Super Strong Machine vs. Steve Casey
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Hiroshi Hase vs. Shiro Koshinaka
Wonderland #272
Feature on Shiro Koshinaka coming back from a bizarre right ankle injury that occurs when all his weight comes down on it due to the way he falls putting over a Maeda high kick. They do a career retrospective, show highlights of the tournament for the IWGP junior title that Koshinaka was forced to vacate, have footage of Koshinaka training for his comeback and then highlights of his first matches back
Wonderland #273 taped 4/11/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Tatsumi Fujinami & Masaharu Funaki vs. Manny Fernandez & Steve Cash
Big Van Vader vs. Seiji Sakaguchi
Antonio Inoki & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Riki Choshu & Hiroshi Hase
Wonderland #274 taped 4/22/88 Okinawa Onoyama Taiikukan
Kengo Kimura vs. Super Strong Machine
Shiro Koshinaka & Keiichi Yamada vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi & Hiroshi Hase
Riki Choshu vs. Manny Fernandez
Wonderland #277 taped 6/10/88 Hiroshima Kenritsu Taiikukan
Dick Murdock & Adrian Adonis vs. Billy Gaspar & Barry Gaspar
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Owen Hart vs. Keiichi Yamada
IWGP Tag Senshukenjiai: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito
Wonderland #278 taped 6/17/88
Owen Hart vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi. Pretty much what you'd expect from these two except it was shorter and had a lame finish. ***1/2
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dick Murdock. Their styles are very different, but both were willing to compromise. The match kept looking like it was going to end, which is good except most of the endings wouldn't have been satisfying. Actually, although it was a good match, the real ending wasn't satisfying. ***
Masa Saito & Riki Choshu vs. Billy Gaspar & Barry Gaspar. The Gaspars subscribe to the Tiger Jeet Singh motto of don't speak and hit your opponent with the handle of your big sword. Unfortunately, it's not just the sword, their whole offense is as pathetic as Singh's. What makes this so sad is that Bob Orton had one of the better heel move sets. Anyway, Gaspars dominated this crappy brawl, with Masa bleeding like crazy around his right eye to the point that the whole right side of his face was covered. DUD
Wonderland #283 taped 7/29/88 Tokyo Ariake Colisseum
IWGP Heavykyu Chosensha Kettei League Koshikisen: Riki Choshu vs. Masa Saito
IWGP Heavykyu Chosensha Kettei League Koshikisen: Antonio Inoki vs. Big Van Vader
Wonderland #284 taped 8/8/88 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan
IWGP Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Antonio Inoki 35:59 of 60:00. Read Review
Wonderland #285
8/26/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Tatsumi Fujinami & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Big Van Vader & Black Tiger
9/12/88 Fukuoka Kokusai Center: Big Van Vader vs. Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow
10/7/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Tony St. Clair
Wonderland Hashimoto #2
11/11/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, '88 Japan Cup Elimination League Match: Tatsumi Fujinami & Shinya Hashimoto & Masahiro Chono vs. George Takano & Steve Armstrong & Tracey Smothers
11/25/88 Hiroshima Kenritsu Taiikukan, '88 Japan Cup Elimination League Match: Tatsumi Fujinami & Shinya Hashimoto & Masahiro Chono vs. Antonio Inoki & Riki Choshu & Kantaro Hoshino
11/26/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan, '88 Japan Cup Elimination League Championship Match: Tatsumi Fujinami & Shinya Hashimoto & Masahiro Chono vs. Antonio Inoki & Riki Choshu & Kantaro Hoshino
Wonderland #275 taped 4/22/88 Okinawa Onoyama Taiikukan
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Big Van Vader & Masa Saito
4/27/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Big Van Vader
Wonderland #276 taped 4/27/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Kengo Kimura & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito
5 vs. 5 Elimination Match: Shiro Koshinaka & Kantaro Hoshino & Keiichi Yamada & Tatsutoshi Goto & Akira Nogami vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kuniaki Kobayashi & Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga & Kensuke Sasaki
Wonderland #299 taped 12/7/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
'88 Japan Cup Elimination League Decision Tournament 1st Match: Seiji Sakaguchi & Masa Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Dick Murdock & Cowboy Bob Orton & Scott Hall
'88 Japan Cup Elimination League Decision Tournament 2nd Match: Dick Murdock & Cowboy Bob Orton & Scott Hall vs. Antonio Inoki & Riki Choshu & Kantaro Hoshino
Wonderland #300
12/5/88 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Shinya Hashimoto & Masahiro Chono vs. Kevin Von Erich & Kerry Von Erich
12/7/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, '88 Japan Cup Elimination League Decision Tournament Final: Antonio Inoki & Riki Choshu & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Shinya Hashimoto & Masahiro Chono
12/9/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Keiichi Yamada 11:01 of 15:16. I remember loving this match when I was young, but I'm not really seeing it now. Not that it isn't really good, but while everything was well done, the chemistry didn't seem to be clicking. Yamada still isn't that threatening in his third title shot, which was one of the reasons it was probably below the average IWGP junior title match. It's not so much that Yamada never made me believe he would win, but that the match was simply lacking the usual spark, fire, and drama that Koshinaka is known for. Yamada relied on his kicks early, saving the flying for after he had Koshinaka in some trouble. ***1/2
IWGP & WCWA Heavyweight Double Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kerry Von Erich 5:40 & 6:15 of 18:26? I wanted to like this match, but it was one of those matches where you were just counting the minutes until the screw job. Fujinami was looking for a real match, but Von Erich just wanted to stall. Fujinami began with the strategy of using speed to beat power, but quickly got nasty, ramming Von Erich's broken fingers into the turnbuckle and stomping them. This instilled the intensity into the match, and had the crowd going. Fujinami continued in this fiery nature, giving one of his more charismatic performances, but it only does so much good when your opponent either does out and out rest holds or his iron claw, a rest hold that marginal, at best, talents used to use as a finisher. Von Erich even added a stomach claw to a cobra twist, but didn't really get a good one until they were on the outside, which of course led to a double ring out. They restarted the match, and Von Erich again had the claw on the outside, but this time Fujinami was able to whip him into the guard rail. Fujinami got pissed when Kerry tried to crack him with a chair, angrily using it on him then busted him open against the post. Kevin Von Erich rolled his brother back in to avoid the ring out, but once he saw how badly Kerry was bleeding, he began to have second thoughts and petition for the match to be stopped. Kerry kept fighting instinctively, mainly just keeping his arms up trying to protect himself, so once the ref identified this he did call it off. **1/4
1/6/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Hirokazu Hata & Naoki Sano vs. Sergio El Hermoso & El Bello Greco 14:04. Hata looks something like Akira Nogami with Hiroshi Hase's mustache. Based on this match, he could hold his own with those guys in the ring, too. He was very nimble with excellent body control. Though this wasn't the greatest showcase for Sano & Hata's talents, both looked really good when they were on offense. The match was almost exclusively lucha style, but the rudos weren't particularly flexible, graceful, or athletic. They do the homosexual gimmick, spreading their arms and doing a fairy ballerina hop every time they ran the ropes. They initiated few running sequences, enjoying keeping the opponent's close a bit too much for the quality of the match. But overall, this was good stuff in the typical old school lucha variety where the technicos offense is really fun and the rudos offense is basically throwaway brawling. ***
Shiro Koshinaka & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Super Strong Machine & George Takano 13:55. I didn't expect this match to have any chance of being better than Koshinaka vs. Yamada, but it actually was because they did the match you'd hope for rather than the match you'd expect. Koshinaka & Kobayashi were super motivated, basically determined to have a good match. They kept the energy level high and the offense very good throughout. Takano was pretty lazy in '89 despite his only tag title run, but he came to wrestle today, perhaps because Koshinaka & Kobayashi gave him no choice. For once, he applied himself, and that allowed him to more than hang with the opposition. Takano hurt his calf, accidentally hitting the railing when Kobayashi tossed him to the floor. This improved the match, as it gave some focus to the down spots in between the action. SS Machine wasn't doing anything of note this year either, and he again managed this consistent mediocrity, although as Takano stepped up and it was basically a junior tag match with the other three, rather than actually hurting the match he was just typically non descript. ***3/4
1/6/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow & Big Van Vader & Rip Morgan vs. Antonkio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Riki Choshu 8:57. Intense, fiery performances from Fujinami, Choshu, Bigelow, & Vader had the Hall rocking from start to finish. A thoroughly enjoyable little match. Though ultimately it didn't go anywhere and had the most predictable finish of Inoki over Morgan, it left you wanting more. **
1/10/89 Chiba Koen Taiikukan
Masa Saito & Hiroshi Hase vs. Antonio Inoki & Shiro Koshinaka 17:57. I expected a lot more from this match than they gave me. They wrestled as though it were a really long match. It was slow and had no intensity. That would have been okay if it ever actually picked up. I could have lived with Saito & Inoki killing time if Hase & Koshinaka were being themselves, but they seemed sucked into the complete indifference. *1/4
Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Tatsumi Fujinami 4:27. A peculiar match. It was going as planned and seemed on the way to being a good one when Bigelow ascended to the top rope, and just fell off! He seemed okay when Fujinami back body dropped him, but I guess his selling of his shoulder after his crash landing may have been legit because he shockingly failed to kick out of Fujinami's weight shift vertical suplex counter. Fujinami had a priceless look of disbelief when the ref raised his hand in victory. DUD
Riki Choshu vs. Big Van Vader
1/16/89 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Super Strong Machine & George Takano vs. Tatsutoshi Goto & Antonio Inoki
1/16/89 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Hiroshi Hase 16:40. Well focused technical match with sporadic spots to spice things up. Hase worked over Koshinaka's lower left leg for the bulk. When Koshinaka finally came back, he tried a diving kneedrop to the floor with very little setup, only to reinjure himself. After sustaining more legwork, Koshinaka finally hit his Dragon suplex and thought he had the pin because he couldn't see Hase grab the ropes. This brought on a thrilling, but exceptionally short finishing sequence, culminating in a lucky victory for Koshinaka as he turned Hase's Northern Light suplex into a small package. Hase was disgusted he'd dominated the entire match only to lose like this, petitioning for a rematch. ***3/4
Riki Choshu vs. Big Van Vader
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow
1/20/89 Kumamoto Shi Taiikukan: Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow & Big Van Vader vs. Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami
IWGP Title Tournament 1st Round
Masa Chono vs. Big Van Vader 2:04 of 5:52. Chono had aspirations of standing up to Vader, but it was quickly apparent he was two Musketeers short of having a prayer. The monster gaijin easily overwhelmed him, KOing Chono with a lariat then giving him a diving body press for good measure.
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Vladimir Berkovich 4:51. Fujinami did an excellent job here, adjusting his style to fit into Berkovich's comfort zone while still maintaining the pro wrestler vs. amateur wrestler concept. Essentially a mixed style match with Fujinami doing kicks, suplexes, and submissions and Berkovich working the clinch game. Within the context of the time period and the general knowledge of shoots, the match was more or less credible, with the couple of pro wrestling moves such as the leg pick and standing dropkick theoretically working because Berkovich was a noob who was still trying to get over the fact you could be down for three, much less get used to all the new techniques available. Berkovich showed potential because he was willing to let Fujinami make the decisions and dictate the positions. He'd basically just try for the techniques he's a master of, and see if Fujinami went for it or countered.
Victor Zangiev vs. Buzz Sawyer 3:56. I never understood why NJ decided to give Hashimikov the title run rather than Zangiev. Zangiev was simply a great athlete, one of those naturals who probably could have excelled in any number of sports. Extremely nimble and had a great arsenal of suplexes, Zangiev more importantly understood the transition game well. He didn't merely deposit his opponent on the mat, he went right into an arm bar. I always liked Buzz Sawyer, but I thought Zangiev was pretty clearly the better wrestler here, and this was with minimal time in the dojo and in practically his first match.
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Riki Choshu 3:41. One reason NJ has long been the most successful promotion in Japan, sometimes in the world, is they understand how to use leagues and tournaments to both elevate wrestlers and keep them strong. Every league can run flukish results, but NJ picks their spots and follows them up by putting the victor in important matches, even if they go on to lose them all. Hashimoto had been moving up the ranks since he returned the previous July, but this win over the legend in front of this many people really put him on the map. It was by no means the greatest win, as he rather sloppily countered the sasorigatame into something of a small package, but his run to the finals somewhat made up for it. The match itself was rather forgettable, not that it was bad but simply too short for these two, who win by bludgeoning each other until someone can no longer answer the bell. Hashimoto pissed Choshu off by twice slapping him instead of rope breaking, so Choshu returned the favor with short elbows when Hashimoto was in the corner. This is the sort of nice early stuff you get from them to build to them pounding the hell out of each other, but they had to go in another direction because they are too tough to have one knock the other out so quickly.
Non Tournament Match: Masa Saito vs. Wakha Evloev 5:28. Evloev did a pretty good job, showing some nice throws and generally being competent. Started out as a judo match, but Saito was no match, so he started roughing it up, using lariats and headbutts. Evloev didn't know what hit him, but quickly stabilized and surprised Saito back with a flying headscissors to set up the submission win.
IWGP Title Tournament Semifinals
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Big Van Vader 14:37. Simple match. Everything was very well done, but there was nothing particularly deep or difficult. It was something of an odd match, in that although Vader dominated the first half as expected, he wasn't using his power to do so. In fact, it was Fujinami who had almost all the throws, but that was the majority of his offense, as Vader kept him close, tying the more dynamic fighter up and grounding him as if it were a shoot. Fujinami finally had an opening, hurting Vader's arm with an armbar. Though Vader did a nice job of selling this throughout the match and the next one, the immediate result was this prompted him to open up, nearly knocking Tatsumi out with a lariat. Vader began giving Fujinami distance so he could use his weight and power, but this allowed Fujinami to evade and get a hope armbar. However, when Vader caught Fujinami's diving body attack it was the beginning of the end. ***1/4
Victor Zangiev vs. Shinya Hashimoto 7:28. Zangiev was once again very impressive. He throws as fluid a suplex as you'll ever see, just a superb arch. He's also quick, aggressive, and doesn't like to waste time. I didn't particularly care for his overexaggerated head bob selling, but that was about it. Zangiev was tossing Hashimoto all over, putting on a suplex clinic. Hashimoto eventually got so frustrated he hocked a loogie at the Russian, who was probably thinking that was all Hashimoto had. I enjoyed the match, but I wasn't impressed by how they got from this point to Hashimoto's victory. The transition to the finish was just crude, and the finish itself came way too suddenly to really be believable. I mean, Zangiev was trapped in the figure four too long, if anything, my problem is the match was essentially laid out so he lost the moment Hashimoto went on offense. **1/4
Non Tournament Match: Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Salman Hashimikov 2:26. One can hardly call this a match. Bigelow gave Hashimikov his initiation to puroresu, giving him a standing dropkick when Hashimikov requested a pre-match handshake, a forearm to the back when Hashimikov tried for the single leg takedown, and an enzuigiri when Hashimikov picked his leg. This would have been a nice lesson on the way the pro game works, if they actually attached a match to it. Instead, they just ended it when Bigelow was, in turn, caught off guard by the suisha otoshi. DUD
IWGP Title Tournament Final: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Big Van Vader 9:47. This match was a bit of a letdown after the two semifinals, which were more heated and intense. It had a lot of potential, but didn't really fulfill it, and I think got kinda goofy by the end, though not to the point of being ruined like Hashimoto/Zangiev. Hashimoto was clearly the underdog, but he was coming into the final in much better condition. He is one of the few guys who can reasonably be expected to stand toe to toe with Vader, especially with Vader having to make as many adjustments as possible to protect his injured arm. Vader got off to a good start, but the match turned as soon as Hashimoto found the bad arm. Hashimoto sought a Kimura, but even after knocking Vader off the top with a spinning kick that resulted in Vader's foot getting caught in the ropes, he couldn't get it. I thought the booking broke down here, as it was ridiculous to have Hashimoto not even be competitive slugging it out with Vader. Hashimoto would even kick the bad arm, and Vader would still just lay him out with one blow! I realize they were putting over Vader as extra super dominant, but in the end, Hashimoto was only competitive because Vader had a bad wing, and even that and a weird slow count by Lou Thesz on the finisher didn't make a difference. **1/2
World Martial Arts Heavyweight Title Match, Ishu Kakutogisen: Antonio Inoki vs. Shota Chochishvili R5 1:20. I rarely enjoy NJ's clumsy attempts at shoots because they always seem at war with themselves. On one hand, they are trying to limit what they can do so they'd be more realistic, but on the other they are trying to entertain, so the result tends to be that diversity goes out the window and they simply replace it with a bunch of spots of the same variety. Tonight's effort was particularly clumsy, as Shota didn't know how to take and Inoki is so steeped in the pro wrestling mentality that his storytelling and selling killed any illusion of reality rather than enhancing it, as he was making such an effort to do. Georgian Chochishvili was the 1st Soviet judo champion, capturing the gold medal in the Half-Heavyweight division at the 1972 Olympics. They took the ropes down for this "shoot", so the ring was essentially just a large platform. They were allowed to continue on the ground, trying for a submission, but were stood up no matter what after 20 seconds. Inoki didn't wear a Gi, so in theory it was much more difficult for Chochishvili to throw him, and in fact Inoki had the first suplex, a UWF style not so smooth backdrop. Nothing else happened in the first round, but I kind of preferred that to all the preceeding rounds where throws were a dime a dozen, particularly the second round, which was a loop where Shota would immediately throw Inoki and go for an armbar. Inoki fought with one arm from the 3rd round on, holding the other behind his back, which bent sort of like Quasimodo, to show it was "dead". He was desperate, so he fired up and suddenly Shota just stood there and allowed him to hit every sort of glamorous quasi shoot style move in the book, doing a lame job of selling them to boot. Inoki even connected with his enzuigiri, but then the throw into armlock loop resurfaced and Inoki was ultimately saved by the bell from Shota's choke in the third. In the fifth round, Shota gave up following with submissions because he was either bored of trying for the armbar or figured Inoki was so close to out of it he had a better chance of getting a 10 count KO, which soon worked. I give Inoki credit for jobbing to Chochishvili to give the Russians all sorts of credibility that would allow a full Japan vs. Russia program, but this suplexfu was only marginally more credible than the admittedly fake matches. *
Martial Arts: Benny Urquidez vs. Shinya Asuka 5R.
Masa Saito vs. Wakha Evloev 5:28
SS Machine & George Takano vs. Hiroshi Hase & Shiro Koshinaka 17:10
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi 9:55
Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Salman Hashimikov 2:26
Ishu Kakutogisen: Antonio Inoki vs. Shota Chochyshvili R5 1:20
Bigelow vs. Maeda, Williams & Rick Steiner vs. Inoki & Fujinami, more!
5/25/89 Osaka Jo Hall
IWGP Tag Title Match: Super Strong Machine & George Takano vs. Osamu Kido & Kengo Kimura
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Wakha Evloev
Riki Choshu & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Victor Zangiev & Vladimir Berkovich
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Hiroshi Hase vs. Jushin Liger 8:39. Kind of an odd match, as they wanted the title on Liger as soon as possible because he was the new sensation, yet they didn't seem to trust him so Liger was pretty much protected in a short match that Hase totally carried. Hase surprised everyone charging at the bell with a dropkick and using a front suplex to set up a plancha, but soon showed it was going to be his style of diverse technical match rather than a Liger aerial assualt. Hase would have his way with Liger except when Liger would find an opening to use his speed and athleticism to counter than have a burst of flying before Hase countered back. Hase was precise and skilled as ever and Liger was all sorts of scrappy, so the match was fun, albeit not exactly developed. ***
6/10/89 Fukuoka Kokusai Center
Big Van Vader & Italian Stallion vs. Antonio Inoki & Takayuki Iizuka
Jushin Liger vs. Shiro Koshinaka 9:21. It's amazing how much things can change in 6 months. When Yamada challenged on 12/9/88, the division was Koshinaka & Hase plus Owen Hart when he was around, with Yamada in contention but not to the point they were even able to make me believe he was a threat to win. Now Liger is the new sensation soon to be the man, and Koshinaka & Hase are graduating to heavyweight. Or rather, Koshinaka is getting booted out of the division with force, as Liger totally dominates him in this fun little slaughter. Koshinaka is really just there to take Liger's kicks and catch him on his flying moves. The match is really about Liger gaining confidence and becoming comfortable with his new aerial oriented style. ***1/2
Japan vs. Russia 5 Match Series:
Timur Zalasov vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
Wahka Evloev vs. Kengo Kimura
Victor Zangiev vs. Osamu Kido
Vladimir Berkovich vs. Riki Choshu
Salman Hashimikov vs. Masa Saito
3/16/89 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan: Vicious Warrior (Sid Vicious) & The Avalanche (PN News) & Ron Starr vs. Seiji Sekaguchi & Kengo Kimura & Tatsutoshi Goto
5/25/89 Osaka Jo Hall, IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Big Van Vader vs. Salman Hashimikov
6/16/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Kengo Kimura vs. Timur Zalasov
Jushin Liger vs. Beef Wellington 7:19. Wellington wasn't the right opponent for Liger, as he's one of those mini musclemen who can't take that well. Liger had to tone things down and revent to they can't screw it up if I just jump at them mode. Wellington had a couple nice power moves, but didn't add to the match, which was very standard. **1/2
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Great Kokina (Maximus)
Big Van Vader & Brad Rheingans vs. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito
7/12/89 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Big Van Vader vs. Timur Zalasov
Super Strong Machine & George Takano vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Takayuki Iizuka 15:06. Koshinaka, Iizuka, & Takano were juniors who were being used in the heavyweight division, but weren't quite sure what style they wanted to wrestle. The match was fast paced, especially when Koshinaka was in. However, in the early stages they didn't use the pace to any particular advantage, as they were doing unskilled heavyweight striking, so it didn't really help to run first. Once Koshinaka began his hip attacks, the crowd got into it and they continued to do their more junior oriented signature spots until the finish. Koshinaka made the match as usual, but Takano tended to appear to just be doing stuff for the hell of it, for instance doing pushups while in Koshinaka's half crab amidst an otherwise serious match. **1/2
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match 3Min 10Rd: Jushin Liger vs. Black Tiger R5 2:53. Liger was the new ultra athletic superhero, so it was only natural that Black Tiger would be brought in to carry him and help get him over, just as he did for Tiger Mask. Though Rocco is a very talented wrestler, Sayama's matches with Rocco weren't as exciting as his other main rivals, and I wasn't overly thrilled with the direction Rocco took here. He got the crowd to react, but it was largely to his rudo techniques and Liger's subsequent fighting fire with fire rather than Liger's athleticism, which at this point was what made him special. Dives were so much rarer in these days that the entire crowd seemed to stand when Liger ascended to the top for his plancha. Tiger wrestled technically in the first and they got spot happy in the 5th, but in between Tiger was content to employ such deadly manuevers as choking Liger with his towel and attacking him with a plastic bucket of ice. The other aspect that seemed to hinder the match from reaching it's potential was the rounds style, which, more often than not, prevented flow and rendered the action that much more random. ***1/4
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Salman Hashimikov vs. Riki Choshu
7/13/89 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Great Kokina vs. Masa Saito
7/13/89 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Naoki Sano 13:55. Liger & Sano kicked off their legendary fued that first announced their arrival at the top level and soon made them household names with this futuristic aerial war, an insane battle of one-upsmanship that always ultimately proved how evenly matched they were because neither could sustain an advantage no matter what risks they took or how much they disregarded their safety. The match was way ahead of its time for highspots, athleticism, and daring, but also had depth because they were able to get across the idea they were so evenly matched they were pushing each other to previously unattained levels of excellent. The fued was so notable for its intensity, starting before the bell even rang as they wouldn't take their eyes off each other, their stone-faced stare unbroken even by a reluctant pre-match handshake. They matched each other's athleticism at the outset to pop the crowd then technical skill exchanging Romero specials. When the ordinary was not enough, they began raising the bar for daring further and further including Liger doing a rolling senton to the floor, Sano vaulting himself over the top rope Kamikaze style with a body press then following with a missile kick to the floor. There was a Sano huracanrana that didn't quite work and then Liger was too close after Sano's backflip out of the corner for Sano to do his rolling heel kick, but otherwise their chemistry was awesome and anything that didn't hit perfectly added to the recklessness factor. The fault of the match is the double knockout finish came out of nowhere because there was no selling to lead up to it. I understand the idea that this level of opposition called for them to do anything they could think of until they succeeded or their body gave out, but because they couldn't really gain an advantage it didn't make sense for them to both suddenly be unable to get up from Sano's avalanche backdrop. The finish drew gasps from the stunned audience that had been going nuts for quite a while; you could sense their disappointment but they soon gave both a good highly appreciative hand. ****1/2
Big Van Vader vs. Salman Hashimikov
IWGP Tag Title Match: Super Strong Machine & George Takano vs. Riki Choshu & Takayuki Iizuka 16:08. Choshu & Iizuka worked hard, but Machine and especially Takano weren't up to the task, so the effort of Choshu's team wound up resulting in them simply outworking the opposition by a wide margin. Iizuka stepped it up, showing he was more than worthy and capable of the big match. He was in suplex and submission mode, trying to use his sambo background to make up for his size and experience disadvantage. Choshu pushed the pace and tried to instill the expected intensity and urgency, but SS Machine gave one of his non descript performances and Takano simply wasn't good. Takano kept overacting and even mistimed his overacting once or twice. His big move was the Neal kick, but he kept connecting with his ass instead of his thigh. **
8/89
Masa Saito vs. Mike Huff
Dick Murdoch vs. Evgeni Archuhin (sp?)
8/89 Hamamatsu Shi Taiikukan
Super Strong Machine & George Takano vs. Italian Stallion & Billy Jack (Haynes)
Kendo Nagasaki vs. Hiroshi Hase
9/89 Iwate Ken'ei Taiikukan: Buzz Sawyer & Manny Fernandez vs. Super Strong Machine & George Takano
SUPER POWER BATTLE IN OSAKA 9/20/89 Osaka Jo Hall
Owen Hart vs. Tatsutoshi Goto 11:51. Goto was so outclassed you got the idea even he didn't believe he was a match for Owen. Hart wanted to wrestle a scientific mach, so Goto cheated or brawled when he could just to annoy him. Owen wasn't firing up for this, but was very precise and efficient. Goto was able to follow, and given his limited ability, faired better than expected, certainly wrestling a competent match. **
Kendo Nagasaki & Billy Jack vs. Kengo Kimura & Osamu Kido
Salman Hashimikov vs. Italian Stallion
11/29/89 Ishikawa-ken Sangyo Tenjikan
Steve Williams vs. Osamu Kido
Shinya Hashimoto & Super Strong Machine vs. Riki Choshu & Masahiro Chono
Manny Fernandez vs. Andrei Sulsaev
12/6/89 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
George Takano & Super Strong Machine vs. Kunaki Kobayashi & Hiroshi Hase
Shiro Koshinaka & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Tatsutoshi Goto & Norio Honaga
Wonderland Liger #1
4/24/89 Tokyo Dome: Jushin Liger vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi 9:55. Liger made his debut about 6 weeks after Go Nagai's anime began on TV Asahi, with remarkable expectations as he was expected to not merely be a a flesh and blood incarnation of an imaginative super hero, but no less than the successor of the biggest star in the history of junior heavyweight wrestling, Tiger Mask. In order to follow in Tiger's footsteps, he changed his style considerably, focusing on speed, quickness, gymnastic based counters, and daring aerial manuevers. This is not to say Yamada by any means grounded before, but as he came up during the junior divisions UWF dominated era, kicks were a big part of his offense and flying was only one aspect of his well rounded game. Kobayashi was his opponent because he did the best job of carrying Tiger Mask. He was there to do all the dirtywork while being the afterthought, to set Liger up, provide a base for his flying, get some heat with a few questionable tactics, and give him a few breathers by momentarily grounding him. Kobayashi gave his typical unselfish performance, doing nothing to steal Liger's thunder. He got Liger crowd support by trying to rip his mask and giving him a low blow, standard rudo stuff, and Liger got Liger crowd support by awing them with his athleticism. Liger had a nice flashy start, but ultimately didn't do doing anything drastically different than he did as Yamada. He was simply performing the spots quicker and chaining them together in more rapid succession, which was good when it didn't cause mistakes. Kobayashi wrestled with confidence, and did everything that was expected of him, but the match wasn't awesome because it was rather short and Liger was understandable still trying to find himself. ***1/4
5/25/89 Osaka Jo Hall, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Hiroshi Hase vs. Jushin Liger 8:39. NJ wanted the title on Liger as soon as possible because he was the new sensation, yet they didn't seem to trust him, so Liger was pretty much protected in a short match that Hase totally carried. Hase surprised everyone charging at the bell with a dropkick and using a front suplex to set up a plancha, but soon showed it was going to be his style of diverse technical match rather than a Liger aerial assualt. Hase would have his way with Liger except when Liger would find an opening to use his speed and athleticism to counter, setting off a brief burst of flying before Hase countered back. Hase was precise and skilled as ever and Liger was all sorts of scrappy, so the match was fun, albeit not exactly developed or nearly as good as if Liger was simply Yamada. ***
7/12/89 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match 3Min 10Rd: Jushin Liger vs. Black Tiger R5 2:53. Liger was the new ultra athletic superhero, so it was only natural that Tiger Mask's arch rival Black Tiger would be brought in to help get him over. Though Rocco is a talented wrestler, Sayama's matches with Rocco were bottom rung of his main rivals, largely because Rocco tends to spend too much time being a rudo and not enough time showing his actual wrestling skills. Once again, I thought Rocco was again making decisions that were neither adding to the match nor doing their job of getting the opposition over in the manner they were being promoted. Dives were so much rarer in these days that the entire crowd seemed to stand when Liger ascended to the top for his plancha, but while Tiger did get the crowd to react, it was largely to his rudo techniques, which set up Liger to fight fire with fire rather than to showcase his athleticism, which at this point was what made him special. Tiger did wrestle technically in the first and they got spot happy in the 5th, but in between Tiger was content to employ such deadly manuevers as choking Liger with his towel and attacking him with a plastic bucket of ice. The other aspect that seemed to hinder the match from reaching it's potential was the rounds style, which, more often than not, prevented flow and rendered the action that much more random. I'd say this is the best match of the three because it's the only one with any real length and substance, but minute for minute, it's the worst of the three. ***1/4
Wonderland Liger #2
7/28/89 Toda Shi Sports Center, Jushin 5 Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Akira Nogami 10:42. Nogami has passed the point of being a good athlete with a lot of desire, and is beginning to show a good deal of promise. Although they debuted in the same year, Nogami is just beginning to show up on TV, and gets a star vs. promising youngster match with Liger, who goes out of his way to give him credibility, selling for him quite a bit, although he does ultimately dispatch of him with ease. Nogami's offense is somewhat lacking, but he's beginning to develop a nice arsenal of bridging suplexes. I liked his doublearm suplex hold, but the follow up where Nogami fully extends for a diving body attack only to have Liger put out his knee is totally badass. ***
11/3/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Takayuki Iizuka 14:11. Sambo Iizuka puts his newfound skills on display, destroying Liger's knee in this well focused technical match that's a treat for the hardcore fans. I don't remember caring for this match all that much when I first got into Liger, but it's a nice change of pace, and a rare example of Iizuka within his element, giving us a good indication of just how technically good he was even at this early stage in his career. This is basically Liger reverting back to mid 80's Yamada: there's minimal flying, and the basis is a quasi UWF shoot style. Liger sells for the majority of the match, doing a champion job of putting over Iizuka's kneebars. Given Iizuka had recently held the tag titles with Riki Choshu, I expected him to be a tougher out, but once Liger woke up in a desperate effort to stop the blizzard suplex, he quickly dispatched of Iizuka. ***3/4
7/13/89 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Naoki Sano 13:55. Liger & Sano kicked off their legendary fued that first announced their arrival at the very top level and soon made them household names with this futuristic aerial war, an insane battle of one-upsmanship that always ultimately proved how evenly matched they were because neither could sustain an advantage no matter what risks they took or how much they disregarded their safety. The match was way ahead of its time for highspots, athleticism, and daring, but although admittedly more of a spectacle, it did have some depth because they were able to get across the idea they were so evenly matched they were pushing each other to previously unattained levels of excellent. The fued was so notable for its intensity, starting before the bell even rang as they wouldn't take their eyes off each other, their stone-faced stare unbroken even by a reluctant pre-match handshake. They matched each other's athleticism at the outset to pop the crowd then technical skill exchanging Romero specials. When the ordinary was not enough, they began raising the bar for daring further and further including Liger doing a rolling senton to the floor, Sano vaulting himself over the top rope Kamikaze style with a body press then following with a missile kick to the floor. There was a Sano huracanrana that didn't quite work and then Liger was too close after Sano's backflip out of the corner for Sano to do his rolling sole butt, but otherwise their chemistry was awesome and anything that didn't hit perfectly added to the recklessness factor. The fault of the match is the double knockout finish came out of nowhere because there was no selling to lead up to it. I understand the idea that this level of opposition called for them to do anything they could think of until they succeeded or their body gave out, but because they couldn't really gain an advantage it didn't make sense for them to both suddenly be unable to get up from Sano's avalanche backdrop. The finish drew gasps from the stunned audience that had been going nuts for quite a while; you could sense their disappointment but they soon gave both a good highly appreciative hand. ****1/2
Wonderland Liger #3
8/10/89 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano 15:38. A totally different match from 7/13/89, much more toward later (peak) Liger. Having shown no particular aptitude for selling since he donned the hood, Liger suddenly shows why he'd soon be known as the king of the junior sellers, doing a beautiful job of putting over the shoulder Kantaro Hoshino & Sano destroyed in a tag match two days earlier. Liger wears football shoulder pads, but they, like everything else, do little to aid his injured left wing, which Sano continues to attack mercilessly throughout. Liger can't seem to get out of his own way, injuring himself performing his own offense such as a shoulderblock. He winds up doing a lot of stomps because they are among the safest things he can do, but even with these, he's selling his shoulder between each and every one. Still, Liger manages to bust Sano open. One big change here is they are breaking each other down, so the match is much slower paced. It isn't nearly as high flying or insane as 7/13/89, it's more a traditional, even leaning toward a heavyweight match despite their athleticism, with crisp technical wrestling and badass hatred spots. They get a lot out of the flying they do use, and just about everything else for that matter, as we can see them not only knowing how to counter, but beginning to counter with reasoning and timing. I loved the spot where Liger countered a go behind, but Sano then dropped down into a wakigatame. Basic stuff, but it worked perfectly within the context of the match. I'm guessing the shoulder injury is all about NJ not having confidence in the fans willingness to accept Liger's mortality, but luckily the fans wouldn't demand he be essentially undefeatable as Tiger Mask was. They understood Liger gave all he had, and took it as a heroic showing even though only Sano got up from his avalanche backdrop this time. ****3/4
1/18/90 Yamaguchi Toyama Shi Taiikukan, IWGP Junior Next Challenger Decision League Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Hiro Saito 12:53. The 3rd generation of the Liger character with the red mask, red and white body suit, and Thunder as his middle name is the one that would stick (I suppose partly because Go Nagai's anime went off the air on 1/27/90). Hiro heels it up, introducing a chair, and Liger is more than happy to give it back to him, even piledriving Saito on a table. Hiro is not the least bit spectacular, but nonetheless effective on offense as he sometimes was in the early 90's, having enough impact on his suplexes and senton to be credible. He will never have a match of the year, but he's fine for minor matches, the thing is they should be minor heavyweight matches. The downside of Hiro is woefully apparent here, as he doesn't possess nearly enough athleticism for the junior division. He can't take a decent bump off the middle rope, and more importantly, he lacks the flexibility for even simple counters into basic pins, which by the way kills the finish of this match. Despite Liger having to dumb down and Hiro's girth getting in the way a few times, the match was both effective and entertaining. Unfortunately, it just kind of ended when you thought it was about to take off. **3/4
1/25/90 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center, IWGP Junior Next Challenger Decision League Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Akira Nogami 11:59. Nogami had the athleticism, and Liger was of the mindset to carry him. Nogami wasn't wrestling with a great deal of confidence, slowing down to make sure he knew the next spot, but he generally faired well. Liger sold a lot for him, especially early on to give him credibility. The fans weren't reacting, but I thought it was a fun little match. It was weird seeing Liger win with an Argentine backbreaker, as it was not only out of nowhere, but I don't recall him even using the move before. ***
Wonderland Liger #4
3/5/90: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Cheetah Kid (Ted "Rocco Rock" Petty) 9:24. It's nice to see Rocco before he got into grunge, but I have no idea why they included this match in the Liger series, as it's one of Liger's absolute worst. Cheetah had a way of making everything look at least a bit awkward. For such a good athlete, he was rather mechanical and, next to Liger, came off as nothing more than an imposter indy junior. The match was very much of the you do your spots and I do mine variety. Liger tried, but they had no chemistry. *3/4
1/30/90 Gifu Taiikukan, IWGP Junior Next Challenger Decision League Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Owen Hart 12:28. This match is, in a way, responsible for the greatest junior heavyweight match, as if Liger didn't win here to take the next challenger league, he wouldn't have faced Sano the next night. All the matches in the league that aired seemed to share the "we'll give 'em a good twelve minutes" mindset, so this wasn't the blowout match we hoped for. Liger was pretty much along for the ride, as this was clearly Owen's match, and Owen had the advantage most of the time. Hart has a tendency to make everything look easy because he's so exceptionally graceful. While this is often to his advantage, it can be a detriment as well. He never did a very good job of instilling a sense of urgency into his matches, particularly the openings, which were filled with great athletic counters, so they could still seem somewhat empty because there was no real sense of anything having been gained. Though Hart had more ability to deliver an entertaining opening than almost any junior of his era, and certainly once again did so tonight, you can see in a match such as this one that it can still come off very flat if we aren't given a reason to believe in it. The audience didn't react until he picked up the pace, not because the slower stuff wasn't well done, but because he wasn't moving us, so we didn't take that much notice until we identified some sort of manipulation, in this case reverting to our programming of equating quicker tempo to action of greater importance and enthusiasm. Anyway, they were both wrestling on a very high level and built the match up pretty well. A memorable match was a possibility, but they went home early and rather unconvincinglywith Liger just cutting Owen off on the top and taking him out with an avalanche brainbuster then a Ligerbomb rather than having a run of offense first. ***3/4
1/31/90 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Naoki Sano vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 20:00. The ultimate climactic battle, the greatest junior heavyweight match bringing perfect indecisive closure to the greatest junior heavyweight feud of all-time. Not merely a grudge match of epic purportions, but right up there with Akira Hokuto vs. Shinbobu Kandori 4/2/93 as the greatest ever. Not simply state of the art wrestling with awesome drama and great intensity, but the measuring stick. An extremely rich and deep match, with great single match story and psychology, but also playing off the entire brilliant feud in many ways. Heel Sano offers to put the past behind them at least long enough for a display of pre-match goodwill only to get embarrassed when Liger slaps him across the face. Liger roughs up his incited opponent, but Sano quickly exerts his will, proceeding to control 90% of the contest. Abusing and mauling Liger, Sano uses a piledriver on the floor and in-ring tombstone to set up embarrassing him by ripping his sacred mask. Posting Liger until he bleeds, Sano is soon at his cockiest, not wanting to settle for a simple pin, but wanting to prove a point and knock his opponent out. Their first singles meeting on 7/13/89 ended in a double KO, but this time Sano is going to drain his opponent of his lifeforce if not his blood and pummel him until he can no longer stand. Sano nearly succeeds with moves such as the superplex. Liger finally makes a hot comeback, introducing his flying into the match, but it’s suitably short lived. The match is about making the prospects of Liger’s victory look as bleak as humanly possible. At the same time, Liger’s refusal to surrender despite losing a bucket of blood subtly shifts Sano into deciding the victory is more important than the manner, as the belt is what proves he’s the best and will make the fans and promotion eventually see it. The selling is quite simply amazing, more toward Misawa & Kawada dominated All Japan heavyweights from a few years later than anything we'd expect from juniors before or since, with Liger down for lengthy periods as a good deal of drama is placed on each attempt to simply stand. In the best hope spot, Sano tries to take it to the next level with a superplex with both standing on the top, but Liger saves himself by shifting his weight to land on top, though he’s still unable to gain control. Liger’s inability to mount an offensive continues until the final seconds of the match when he counters Sano’s huracanrana with a Ligerbomb. Everything we are used to about pro wrestling tells us Liger will turn it on now, but the series is about making stars of both wrestlers, so even though it’s the blowoff Liger isn’t going to prove true superiority. He’s a beaten down man with nothing left, so he decides to go for broke, positioning Sano with a tombstone and pulling out the most spectacular move of the time period, the shooting star press. Liger wins because he has the greatest move and was able to will himself, or simply be lucky enough, to hang around long enough to execute it. *****
Wonderland Foreigners Steve Williams
10/19/87: Steve Williams vs. Keiji Muto
12/6/89 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Steve Williams vs. Shinya Hashimoto
12/11/90 Nagoya Rainbow Hall: Steve Williams vs. Masahiro Chono