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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
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*
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
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 #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
Tadakai no Wonderland Nobuhiko Takada #3 8/1/99 originally aired 3/28/86 taped 3/26 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
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
Tadakai no Wonderland Nobuhiko 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
NJ Wonderland #229 taped 8/5/86 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshuken: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka
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
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. Commando 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 Hiuga 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 #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 #568
3/13/93 taped 3/9 Akita Kenritsu Taiikukan
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Pegasus Kid & Dean Malenko
4/7/93 taped 4/6 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Shiro Koshinaka & Kengo Kimura & Akitoshi Saito vs. Koki Kitahara & Hiromuchi Fuyuki & Tatsutoshi Goto & Hiro Saito
Tatsumi Fujinami & Osamu Kido vs. Ashura Hara & Super Strong Machine
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
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
IWGP Title Tournament 1st Round
Masa Chono vs. Big Van Vader
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Vladimir Berkovich
Victor Zangiev vs. Buzz Sawyer
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Riki Choshu
Non Tournament Match
Masa Saito vs. Wakha Evloev
IWGP Title Tournament Semifinals
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Big Van Vader
Victor Zangiev vs. Shinya Hashimoto
Non Tournament Match
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Salman Hashimikov
IWGP Title Tournament Final
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Big Van Vader. Vader wins vacant title.
Super Powers Combat Championship
Antonio Inoki vs. Shota Chochyshvili
Bigelow vs. Maeda, Williams & Rick Steiner vs. Inoki & Fujinami, more!
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 Liger #1
4/24/89 Tokyo Dome: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi. Liger's debut
5/25/89 Osaka Jo Hall IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Hiroshi Hase vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
7/12/89 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Black Tiger (Rocco)
Wonderland Liger #3
8/10/89 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Naoki Sano
1/18/90 _Yama Shi Taiikukan IWGP Junior Heavykyu Oza Chosensha Kettei League Koshiksen: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Akira Nogami
1/25/90 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center IWGP Junior Heavykyu Oza Chosensha Kettei League Koshiksen: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Hiro Saito
Wonderland Liger #2
7/28/89 Toda Shi Sports Center: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Akira Nogami
11/3/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Takayuki Iizuka
7/13/89 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Naoki Sano
Wonderland Liger #4
3/5/90 Okinama Okumuyama (?) Taiikukan: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Cheetah Kid (Rocco Rock)
1/30/90 Gifu Taiikukan: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Owen Hart
1/31/90 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Naoki Sano vs. Jushin Thunder Liger