-50min. Q=Master
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 Heavyweight Title Match: Hiroshi Hase vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
7/12/89 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Black Tiger (Rocco)
Wonderland Liger #3
8/10/89 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Naoki Sano
1/18/90 _Yama Shi Taiikukan IWGP Junior Heavyweight Oza Chosensha Kettei League Koshiksen: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Akira Nogami
1/25/90 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center IWGP Junior Heavyweight Oza Chosensha Kettei League Koshiksen: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Hiro Saito
1/90 Yamaguchi Toyama Shi Taiikukan
IWGP Junior Next Challenger Decision League Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Hiro Saito
Big Van Vader & Great Kokina vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Masa Saito
Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Riki Choshu
1/25/90 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
IWGP Junior Next Challenger Decision League Match: Black Tiger vs. Owen Hart
IWGP Junior Next Challenger Decision League Match: Jushin Liger v Akira Nogami
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 Heavyweight Title Match: 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 Heavyweight Senshuken Jiai: 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. Roughing Liger up and mauling him, 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 delivering his shooting star press. Liger wins because he has the greatest move and was able to will himself, or simply lucky enough, to hang around long enough to execute it. *****
Yatsu vs. Kobashi, Bulldogs vs. Tiger Mask Misawa & Shinichi Nakano, Tenryu & Fuyuki & Kawada vs. Tsuruta & Kabuki & Isao Takagi, two AJ battle royals, NJ Tag Tournament featuring Chono & Koshinaka vs. SS Machine & Sano in great final, Choshu vs. Zangiev, Inoki & Shota Chochoshvili vs. Masa Saito & Rheingans, Kabuki vs. Kobashi, Fantastics vs. Takada & Fuyuki, Bulldogs vs. Tiger Mask & Masa Fuchi, Vader vs. Hansen, Inoki & Sakaguchi vs. Chono & Hashimoto, Sano & Pegasus Kid vs. Liger & Nogami, Larry Zybyzko vs. Masa Saito, more!
Jushin Thunder Liger & Akira Nogami vs. Pegasus Kid & Naoki Sano
Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto & Norio Honaga vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi & Kantaro Hoshino & Hiroshi Hase
AWA World Heavyweight Title Match: Masa Saito vs. Larry Zybysko
Koji Kitao vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
1/30/90: Masa Saito & Hiroshi Hase vs. Osamu Kido & Kengo Kimura
3/2/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Wild Pegasus & Cheetah Kid vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Takayuki Iizuka
Shinya Hashimoto & Masa Saito v Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow & Punisher Dice Morgan (The Undertaker)
Super Strong Machine vs. George Takano
Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto v Masahiro Chono & Riki Choshu
3/5/90: Jushin Liger vs. Cheetah Kid (Ted "Rocco Rock" Petty)
Liger & Iizuka vs. Pegasus & Cheetah Kid (Ted Petty), Takano vs. SS Machine, L-1 Tournament highlights, Michinoku World Masked Man highlights, Bigelow & Owen vs. Steve Williams & Pegasus, more!
Wonderland Liger #5
3/19/90 Hiroshima Kenritsu Taiikukan IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Pegasus Kid 15:21. Liger vs. Pegasus would quickly be on its way to becoming the junior feud of the 1990’s, but Pegasus’ first title challenge was probably their worst Japanese match together and his least memorable IWGP junior title match. Both men were not only figuring out how to work together, but actually still deciding the wrestlers they wanted to be. Low dosage Benoit only threw 2 chops, instead trying to match Liger in quickness, athleticism, flying, and matwork, in other words trying to take the champion down on Liger’s own terms rather than crunch his bones. They hadn’t developed the great chemistry we’d see later in the year, so it was essentially the standard exciting Liger match of the period with a long mat sequence and no particular story that relies on the highspots to make or break it. Of course, Liger’s flying was tops in the world at that time, and Benoit was obviously no slouch in the days before his veins appeared ready to explode in some sort of chemically induced version of Scanners. Pegasus had his moments, but even though it was a little better than Liger’s big matches with Finlay, Villano V, and Casas, he didn’t exactly distinguish himself from the pack of junior contenders and the dropoff from the ultimate Liger vs. Sano to Liger’s first defense was immense. You couldn’t hope for the same atmosphere, but the lack of direction and unconvincing finish made it all the more disappointing. That said, if every feud started with a match this good... ***1/2
2/5/90 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. David "Fit" Finlay 9:33. The matchup had a lot of potential, but they didn’t really develop it, instead essentially working as individuals with Liger mainly selling Finlay’s basic bashing. It was essentially a reprise of the lesser portions of Fuji Yamada’s UK tour with the roughhousing heel controlling the match, and the face doing almost all the spectacular spots during his brief hot comebacks. Finlay is unlike any of Liger’s other opponents; he’s the ultimate bruiser. The fans didn’t seem to know what to think of him repeatedly bludgeoning Liger with knees and elbows, but his arrogance turned them against him. There was a huge pop for Liger’s Neal kick comeback, but the audience seemed in a state of shock when Finlay almost immediately reasserted himself. ***1/4
8/19/90 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Pegasus Kid 15:02. When I first began watching Liger’s Japanese matches in 1992, Liger, Naoki Sano, and Pegasus immediately became my definition of top quality wrestling. While the Liger vs. Pegasus feud couldn’t quite match Liger vs. Sano, it became quite an amazing one in it’s own right, beginning to escape the mammoth Sano shadow with this second junior title match. There’s certainly a night and day difference between this early classic and their first try 5 months earlier. Liger & Pegasus seemed far more confident as individuals with Kid finding his stride, still displaying his athleticism, but adding the stiffness he became synonymous with. He asserted himself as a wrecking ball early by guerrilla pressing Liger over the top and whipping him into the guard rail. The chemistry they developed together was the huge difference from 3/19/90 though. The backbone of this encounter was their numerous explosive, perfectly timed counter laded sequences, allowing them to pull off the difficult match where they repeatedly went back and forth with every aggression liable to be immediately reversed. You could feel they were beginning to think alike, and that allowed everything to become crisper, to be performed more emphatically because there was no doubt in their minds. The first half was intense, but generally not extraordinary. However, they completely emptied their tanks in the second half, just going back and forth with lightning counters until someone finally successfully executed a spectacular maneuver. Pegasus won with his guillotine leg drop, establishing himself and allowing for a series by taking the title. ****1/2
Wonderland Liger #6
9/30/90 Kanagawa Yokohama Arena IWGP Junior Heavyweight Challenger Decision Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Villano V 12:11. Rather than simply making former IWGP Junior Champion Liger the #1 contender, he was forced to defeat a formidable luchador to earn the rematch. Liger was the best junior even though he hadn’t really found himself yet, but this was an exciting time because he’d experiment and dabble into every style. The match was slanted about 15% toward Villano’s style, which was a nice mix since Liger is more proficient in lucha than Villano is in puroresu. Villano understands Japan enough to not go crazy with appendage grabs, but while he’s a good solid worker, he’s not particularly athletic, stiff, or powerful, so he simply doesn’t possess any weapons to use on Liger in a match of this magnitude. They ran around early with Liger eventually doing the majority of his best stuff to make the match. Despite the weak finish, it was a good match, it’s just not the sort of match you’d want to see Liger in repeatedly because while there’s little chance of it falling apart, there’s also very little upside. Pegasus & Liger had a post match staredown with Pegasus declaring he’d meet all comers. ***
11/1/90 Tokyo Nippon Budokan IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Pegasus Kid vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 12:32. Liger vs. Pegasus shifts toward Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid in this exceptional sprint that put the Sano era to rest and ushered in the new era where you marked the upcoming Liger vs. Pegasus match on your calendar. Probably the best offensive match the junior division produced all year, delivering an exceptional mix of great brutal power with big suplexes off the ropes and exceptional flying, capped by Liger’s breathtaking shooting star press. Though the briefest IWGP Junior title change until the rightfully short Koji Kanemoto over Norio Honaga 2/19/95, they tested their now razor sharp reactions with one highly developed counter sequence after another. It was some of the greatest work of the year to be certain, but they didn’t really develop any story or address the rivalry in any way, so as impressive as it was it seemed a bit empty. They got me all stoked when Pegasus came right out establishing the kamikaze mode that helped make the Sano matches come off as a life and death struggle, but after the guerrilla press over the top followed by the suicidal missile kick to the floor, they followed with the brief mat portion then began attempting all their big spots. The fans had really taken to Liger, going nuts anytime his opponent was on the floor because they knew some amazing dive was on its way. I’d rate this slightly higher than their 8/19/90 match because their added familiarity allows them to further develop the match, but it seems a bit short and one-dimensional to bump up another 1/4*. ****1/2
12/26/90 IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Negro Casas 9:40 of 16:37. Liger’s rivalry with Casas was one of his more disappointing ones because Casas had established himself as arguably the top worker in Mexico in the late 1980’s, so it seemed to be the super dream match with both great juniors in their prime. Luchadors are primarily six man tag wrestlers who rely on the rare use of near falls the couple times a year they actually wrestle a singles match, so despite their best efforts they never seem to have enough variety and diversity to walk in and dial up a great 15 minute singles match in Japan against an unfamiliar opponent. Casas in 1990 is several notches better than even peak Dr. Wagner Jr., but Wagner made a much greater impact in late 1990’s New Japan because he worked their regularly, not only honing his style to puroresu but also and developing the timing and chemistry with his opponents that’s so important to the step oriented lucha style. Anyway, Casas faired far better than Villano V, but he’s also a far superior athlete with the charisma to immediately get himself over as a heel. The match was about 75% puroresu, and very well executed with nice but not blowaway offense. It was quite solid, but lacked anything to distinguish it as a big title match. It doesn’t help that the complete match seems to be lost, as they showed it from a distant camera from the top of the arena for a minute or so until the old TV version kicks in. ***1/2
Sano vs. George Takano-excellent match, Power & Glory vs. Tenryu & Savage, Yatsu & Haku vs. Tenryu & Savage, Onita vs. Pogo-Barbed Wire Landmine Death Match, Fantastics vs. Footloose (Kawada & Ricky Samson Hiromuchi Kodo Fuyuki), 1/5/90: Sano & SS Machine vs. Koshinaka & Chono-Chono & Koshinaka win NJ Tag Tourney in an excellent match, Takada vs. Maeda, Tenryu & Kawada & Fuyuki vs. Tsuruta & Kabuki & Inoue, Windham vs. Taue, more!
Liger vs. Aoyagi, Vader vs. Hansen, Muto vs. Hashimoto, Williams vs. Hansen, Gordy vs. Tsuruta-Gordy wins Triple Crown, Hansen & Choshu vs. Vader & Hamaguchi, Gordy vs. Hansen, Misawa vs. Tsuruta, Kobashi vs. Bigelow, Kawada vs. Bigelow, Kobashi vs. Williams, more!
Liger & Hase vs. Hiro Saito & Honaga, Masa Saito & Kimura & Kido vs. Punisher Dice Morgan (Undertaker) & Nord & Kirchner, Benoit vs. Kobayashi, Chono vs. SS Machine, Liger & Sasaki vs. Hiro Saito & Tatsu Goto, SS Machine vs. Koshinaka, Iizuka vs. Matsuda, Rheingans vs. Zangiev, Liger vs. Black Tiger (Rocco), Liger & Koshinaka vs. Goto & Honaga, Choshu & Hashimoto vs. Muta & Chono, Vader & Bigelow & Williams vs. Masa Saito & Kimura & Kitao, Backlund vs. Takada from UWF, more!
Kawada vs. Hansen, Williams & Gordy vs. Bigelow & Davey Boy Smith, Steve Williams vs. Hansen, Tsuruta vs. Gordy-Gordy Wins Triple Crown, Vader & Animal Hamaguchi vs. Choshu & Hansen, Kobashi vs. Bigelow, Kawada vs. Bigelow, Kobashi vs. Williams, Benoit & Williams vs. Bigelow & Owen Hart, Muta vs. Rheingans, more!
Funks vs. Hansen & Spivey, Liger vs. Pegasus-4 3/4 Liger regains IWGP Jr., Muto & Chono vs. Hase & Sasaki, Misawa & Kawada vs. Kobashi & Ace, Toyota & Medusa & Minami vs. Nakano & Kong & Kimura, Misawa & Kawada vs. Williams & Gordy, more!
Wonderland Liger #5
3/19/90 Hiroshima Kenritsu Taiikukan IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Pegasus Kid
2/5/91 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. David "Fit" Finlay
8/19/90 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Pegasus Kid
Wonderland Liger #6
9/30/90 Yokohama Arena Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Villano V
11/1/90 Tokyo Nippon Budokan IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Pegasus Kid vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
12/26/90 IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Negro Casas
Wonderland Foreigners #6 Dusty Rhodes
12/10/80 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Dusty Rhodes vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
2/9/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Dusty Rhodes vs. Abdullah The Butcher
6/4/81 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Dusty Rhodes & Bob Backlund vs. Bobby Duncum & Sgt. Slaughter
4/1/82 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Dusty Rhodes & Dick Murdock vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Riki Choshu
Wonderland Foreigners #8 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
Animal Hamaguchi & Kengo Kimura & Osamu Kido & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Super Strong Machine & Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto & Norio Honaga
Scott Norton vs. Equalizer
Masahiro Chono & Masa Saito vs. Arn Anderson & Barry Windham
IWGP Tag Senshuken: Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Scott Steiner & Rick Steiner
Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow & Big Van Vader vs. Ron Simmons & Butch Reed
Greatest 18 Club No Time Limit No Referee: Riki Choshu vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
*COOP available*
Takayuki Iizuka & Kuniaki Kobayashi & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Z Man & Brian Pillman & Tim Horner
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Senshuken: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. AKIRA
El Gigante vs. Big Cat Hughes
The Great Muta vs. Sting
NWA Heavyweight & IWGP Heavyweight Double Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ric Flair
Owen Hart & Scorpio vs. Negro Casas & Black Cat, Honaga vs. Benoit, Finlay & Scorpio vs. Koshinaka & Kobayashi, Chris Benoit vs. Owen Hart, Liger vs. Honaga, Benoit vs. Casas, Cactus Jack vs. Kenta Kobashi (from AJ), more!
NJPW Wonderland G1 #1 taped 8/7/91 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
B Block Koshiken: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow
B Block Koshiken: Riki Choshu vs. Masa Chono
A Block Koshikisen: Keiji Muto vs. Scott Norton
NJPW Wonderland G1 #2
8/7/91 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Big Van Vader 12:12
8/9/91 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Riki Choshu 10:11
Big Van Vader vs. Scott Norton 10:48
NJ Tadakai no Wonderland ~G1 Retsuden~ #3 11/16/99 taped 8/9/91 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
A Block Koshikisen: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Keiji Muto
B Block Koshikisen: Masa Chono vs. Shinya Hashimoto
NJ Tadakai no Wonderland ~G1 Retsuden~ #4 11/23/99 aired 8/24/91 taped 8/11 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Yushosen Shinshutsu Ketteisen (Advance to the final decision match): Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masa Chono
Yushoketteisen: Keiji Muto vs. Masa Chono
Super Heel Tag: Great Muta & AKIRA vs. Kim Duk & Masanobu Kurisu. Dull methodic brawl. Muto is bad enough as Muta when he's in with an excellent wrestler, but with no talent brawlers like this he just wastes time and does equally unskilled brawling. AKIRA didn't curtail his own ability that much, but this gimmick wreaks of Muta wannabe. Kim Suk was way out of shape. He barely jumped over Muta after Muta did a drop down then on the way back couldn't Duk enough so Muta could leapfrog him despite Muta's crotch being like 6 inches higher than the top rope. Duk did some vicious chops and knife edges, but that was all he could do decently. He bled. They did do a good job of staying on Duk's cut, but they didn't do anything interesting or skilled to it and I can only take so much biting. Kurisu did his FMW routine with the stiff chair shots what little he was in. 1/2*
Hiroshi Hase vs. Tatsumi Fujinami. One of those technical matches that kind of sneaks up on you. It always has a certain quality to it becase the execution is so precise. What makes it so good though is how it builds believably (not in the shoot kinda way) and unpredictably. There were times I thought I had a read on it, like when Hase got frustrated with submissions and began roughing it up, but it didn't go down the obvious path. It was back and forth throughout without many near finishes; the good kind of inconsistent where the eventual ending came off an injury that was attacked but 15 minutes into the match you had no idea who would win or by exploiting what body part. Of course, it was highly technical, but done in an intense matter where even if you don't appreciate submissions you should at least appreciate their effort and drive. The selling was excellent. It was really helped by the precision of the moves; it's just so much easier to buy into their story when sweat is flying off they hit each other. The match was far more toward's Fujinami's style, but showed Hase as a flashier and more charismatic version of Fujinami. The fans were into this, and erupting for the occassional near finish. ****
Hiroshi Hase vs. Shinya Hashimoto. One hell of a stiff match and good technically as well. It's funny how Hase always initiates striking sequences with more powerful strikes so he can go down for them. Hashimoto wasn't so great at this point, but Hase worked to his strengths and did his style match. It was a little sloppy because Hashimoto's weight was too much for Hase and Hashimoto wasn't exactly smooth in the transitions, but mainly they did what Hashimoto can do well which is give and take a beating. The match didn't really build, but it was always good and it wasn't too hard to look past the problems because it was such a nasty match for NJ. ***1/2
Scott Norton vs. Tiger Jeet Singh. The usual talentless display of bloodletting from Singh, with some of the least believable scenarios and acting ever to take place in NJ rings. Norton bled within a minute and Singh kept biting the cut. Norton eventually came back with a lariat that Singh took one of his ridiculously exaggerated bumps on. As bad as Singh's sword butt offensive attack is, it's even worse when he's trying to sell because he's so unbelievably phony that you just have to laugh. They didn't blow anything per se, but they didn't do any wrestling either. -**
Ishu Kakutogisen: Big Van Vader vs. Tony Halme. This was when boxer Halme was getting started in pro wrestling. The idea of using him in mixed matches was good, and Vader was so good here carrying this clueless putz that it should have been passable. The problem is someone had the bright idea that these guys are so tough they should do 6 rounds. 6 rounds in a real shoot is one thing, but when you have one guy that doesn't know what he's doing and another that's used to faking it in the pro wrestling sense, it's just asking for trouble. The match was generally good when Vader was on offense. His clubbing blows put the boxer's punches (which were more like haymakers than anything you'd actually throw in boxing) to shame, but he showed more diversity than in his UWF-I days as the top monster, actually pulling out some submissions rather than just relying on power. Halme's conditioning was poor, so he was sucking wind quickly. Even before that, he was just sucking. He basically just punched, which would be fine if they weren't either love taps or complete misses. Vader wasn't going to embarrass himself by flopping for these things, but since none of Halme's strikes were good he was stuck going down for the ones he could actually feel, resulting in his selling being exaggerated. The later stages were the worst because Halme took over after Vader bladed and the fighters and their tactics were just worn out. *
10/7/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Tiger Jeet Singh & Kim Duk vs. Great Kokina (Yokozuna) & Wild Samoan. Highlights
Shinya Hashimoto & Scott Norton vs. Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase. Hase made the opposition look good, and he sold a lot to put them over. Average.
Riki Choshu & Masa Saito vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Big Van Vader. Choshu worked hard to make Vader look good, and that was a good rivalry. Fujinami was technically excellent as usual. Pretty good, but finish was rather sudden.
10/13/91 Chiba
Choshu & Saito vs. Masa Chono & Bam Bam Bigelow. Solid match
10/17/91 Fukuoka Kokusai Center
Semifinal: Fujinami & Vader vs. Chono & Bigelow. Gaijins worked stiff together. They were in the ring longer than I expected, but they both did a good job. Good match with everyone making a contribution.
Final: Fujinami & Vader vs. Choshu & Saito. Fujinami & Choshu both did dives here. Everyone worked really hard, with Vader & Choshu looked better than I expected. Good match.
10/18/91 Hiroshima Sun Plaza
Great Oz (Kevin Nash) & AKIRA (Akira Nogami) vs. Bigelow & Norio Honaga. Highlights.
Fujinami & Choshu & Hase vs. Chono & Hashimoto & Muto. All the big spots. Looked to be very good, but too much was edited out.
10/13/91 Chiba
Super Strong Machine vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
10/18/91 Hiroshima Sun Plaza
Hiroyoshi Yamamoto (Tenzan) vs. Takeshi Misawa
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Pegasus Kid. From a work standpoint, this was everything you could ask for from a junior match. Every move was precisely executed. The offense was stiff and "believable," and they didn't waste any motion. Toward the finish they were constantly countering each other in such a natural manner. The finish was lame though, not the move itself, that was great. The problem was it basically came out of nowhere, and the guy who was pinned had taken so little after dishing out so much. ****1/4
6/20/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
El Samurai & Black Cat vs. Pimpinella Escarlatas & May Flowers. The WWF is usually less disgraceful than the transvestites in this match were.
8/3/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Kensuke Sasaki & Takayuki Iizuka & El Samurai vs. Keiji Muto & & Shinya Hashimoto & Masa Chono
9/10/92 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Riki Choshu & Takayuki Iizuka & Koji Kanemoto & Hiroyoshi Yamamoto vs. Kengo Kimura & Shiro Koshinaka & Masashi Aoyagi & Akitoshi Saito
10/18/92 Chiba Makucho (?) Messe
Riki Choshu vs. Tony Halme
9/10/92 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Masa Chono
'91 SG Tag League Semifinal: Tatsumi Fujinami & Big Van Vader vs. Masa Chono & Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow
'91 SG Tag League Final: Riki Choshu & Masa Saito vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Big Van Vader. Fujinami & Vader win tag league.
AJ TV 11/3/91 taped 10/24
PWF Jr. Title: Masa Fuchi vs. Dan Kroffat. Excellent match
Triple Crown: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Excellent match.
AJ TV 11/17/91 taped 11/16
'91 Real World Tag Team League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Stan Hansen & Danny Spivey
NJ TV 11/23/91 taped 11/5 Tokyo
IWGP Tag Titles: Rick Steiner & Scott Norton (subbing for injured Scott Steiner) vs. Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase. Excellent match. Muto & Hase win titles.
AJ TV 11/24/91 taped 11/21
'91 Real World Tag Team League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. Excellent match
'91 Real World Tag Team League Match: Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams
AJ TV 12/8/91 taped 12/4 & 12/6/91 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
'91 Real World Tag Team League Match: Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue
'91 Real World Tag Team League Match: Stan Hansen & Danny Spivey vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue
'91 Real World Tag Team League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams. Excellent match. Gordy & Williams win tag league
NJ TV 12/21/91 taped 12/5
Jushin Thunder Liger & Akira Nogami vs. Negro Casas & El Katana
AJ TV 12/22/91 taped 11/29/91
Dynamite Kid highlights then retirement ceremony
Johnny Ace & Sonny Beach vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Giant Kimala. Highlights
Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat. Highlights
'91 Real World Tag Team League Match: Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams. Highlights
AJ TV 12/1/91 taped 11/29
'91 Real World Tag Team League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue
NJ TV taped 12/18/91
Jungle Death Match: Hiroshi Hase vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
AJ TV
finishes of famous matches from 80's and 90's
NJ TV 1/4/92 taped 1/4 Tokyo Dome
Keiji Muto & Sting vs. Steiner Brothers
12/11/91 Nagoya Rainbow Hall: Koji Kanemoto vs. Michiyoshi Ohara. What they showed was alright.
10/17/91 Fukuoka Kokusai Center: Great Oz (Kevin Nash) & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Scott Norton & Hiro Saito. Good match when Liger was in and bad when he wasn't. Liger did a good job making Norton look good. Nash was so lame back then. Short and the finish came out of nowhere. *3/4
12/11/91 Nagoya Rainbow Hall: Liger vs. Tatsumi Fujinami. Significant match for historical reasons because these two have been so influential to junior heavyweight wrestling. Unfortunately, Fujinami is a boring heavyweight by this time. Solid Fujinami style match, but Liger didn't push at all. ***
Black Cat vs. Hiroyoshi Yamamoto. Tenzan, who had almost completed one full year of wrestling, looked to weigh about 180 pounds here. Even though he had no move set, Cat gave him loads of offense. They didn't diddle around, and the fans got into the match mainly for this no wasting time attitude and the young lion putting up a good fight. *3/4
Jushin Thunder Liger & Masashi Aoyagi & AKIRA vs. Super Strong Machine & Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga. High impact match with some flying from Liger & Nogami and lots of roughhousing from the Blood Outlaws. Hardly a classic Liger match, but this one is special to me because it was the 2nd time I saw him and the first time I saw the others. I marked out for moves like Machine's guerrila press into stomachbreaker, Hiro's vicious sidewalk slam and senton off the 2nd, Liger's nadare shiki no doublearm suplex and single leg dropkick to counter Honaga & Saito's double press, & AKIRA's Dragon suplex hold. ***1/4
Shin Nihon vs. WCW Tag Match: Masa Saito & Kim Duk vs. Dusty Rhodes & Dusty Rhodes, Jr. Bad and boring match. Copperdust gave his typical bland performance, while Duk used his riveting nerve holds. Dusty aged like rotten eggs, stunk more every day. His charisma came off more as comedy, but laughing at this match with it's flubs, mistiming, and consistently poor wrestling was the only way it could be tollerated. DUD
Super Power Special Match: Tony Halme vs. Scott Norton. Plodding deliberate match. These guys desperately need someone to carry them. They can do there moves okay, but that's about it. The fans were totally pro Norton even to the point of booing Halme when he posed and bragged. The fans popped huge when Norton bulled Halme off his feet. Halme was cut on the forehead. It looked like a razor job that didn't achieve the desired effect, but if that's the case it's hard to imagine what the purpose of having blood in this match was. *
Shin Nihon vs. WCW Special Match: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Bill Kazmaier. Kazmaeir was one of those robotic musclemen that were so plentiful in the 80's and early 90's. The fans were into Hashimoto's offense, but Kazmaier didn't do a very good job taking it much less putting it over. *1/4
Special Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Hiroshi Hase. Hase did an excellent job carrying Inoki, but it was short and Inoki didn't put him over enough for the match to be all that great. Technically it was good with some nice transitions. There were a few lame strikes, but the suplexes were good. Obviously it had major heat. There was a totally ridiculous spot where Inoki put Hase out with his illegal masho sleeper in less than 2 seconds. **1/2
Osamu Kido & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Kantaro Hoshino & Kengo Kimura. Dated. The final minutes were strong with good near finishes, but for the most part it was solid, well executed, but not particularly interesting wrestling. **
Shin Nihon vs. WCW Tag Match: Shiro Koshinaka & Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Arn Anderson & Larry Zybyzko. Koshinaka & Anderson were impressive as usual. Zybyzko didn't even waste 2 glorious minutes since it was in Japan, but nonetheless his antics were largely out of place and he did little in the ring. Ohara was even more hopeless in these days where he was more "technical." Had it's moments, but not nearly enough of them. **
Super Heavy Special Match: Big Van Vader vs. El Gigante. Vader, who was only up to Gigante's chest, tried, but you can't do much with Gigante. Thankfully it was short. The screw job finish was easier to stomach because the only true highlight of the match, Vader letting the steam out of his headpiece onto Gigante, came right after it. *
WCW (NWA) World Heavyweight Title Match: Lex Luger vs. Masahiro Chono. Luger came to fight, but his fire didn't totally make up for all his uninteresting and lame offense like the annoying test of strength. All things considered these two worked well together with Chono doing an impressive job of making Luger look "good." The match built pretty well. Fans were into the match, which had good drama. Simple schoolboys and small packages were dramatic because the stakes were high given WCW's big titles still meant something at this point. Even with Chono's excellent performance, it was still better as a spectacle than a wrestling match. **1/2
Dream Tag Match: Sting & Great Muta vs. Scott Steiner & Rick Steiner. Lots of flashy moves without much selling. Steiners threw the opposition all over the place with crazy high impact suplexes, while Muto made up for his lack of size with his explosive quickness. You know this is what you were going to get, so you had to be happy with the match because they executed well and excited the audience. I liked Rick's overhead belly to belly off the 2nd the best of the suplexes. You don't usually see a guy go for a ride on a suplex off the middle rope because holding on protects them some, but Rick just tossed Muto like a sack of potatoes. I also liked the spot where Rick was leaning against the ropes, so Sting press slammed Muta into Rick and both went over the top to the floor. ***1/2
IWGP Heavyweight & Greatest 18 Club Nintei Belt Double Title Match: Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami. These two have much more interesting matches when they are more toward Choshu's brawling style. Choshu doing a technical match, especially at this point, is just boredom with him sitting in the scorpion. The moves were well executed, but they were very basic badly dated moves. *3/4
NJ TV 2/8/92 taped 2/4
Riki Choshu & Keiji Muto & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Bam Bam Bigelow & Scott Norton & Rambo
NJ TV 2/15/92 taped 2/8 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Akitoshi Saito
IWGP Jr. Title: Norio Honaga vs. Jushin Thunder Liger. Liger wins title
NJ TV 2/22/92 taped 2/10
IWGP Jr. & WCW World Light Heavyweight Double Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Pegasus Kid. Excellent match
Riki Choshu & Masa Saito & Kengo Kimura vs. Masa Chono & Shinya Hashimoto & Akira Nogami
Shiro Koshinaka & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Akitoshi Saito & Shigeichi Tachigi
IWGP Tag Titles: Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase vs. Scott Norton & Brad Armstrong
NJ TV 3/7/92 taped 3/1 Yokohama
IWGP Tag Titles: Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase vs. Big Van Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow. Vader & Bigelow win titles.
AJ TV 3/8/92 taped 3/4 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Triple Crown: Stan Hansen vs. Mitsuharu Misawa
World Tag Titles: Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue. Jumbo & Taue win titles.
NJ TV 3/14/92 taped 3/9
Super Strong Machine & Hiro Saito & Tatsu Goto vs. Riki Choshu & Takayuki Iizuka & El Samurai
IWGP Tag Titles: Big Van Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Masa Chono & Shinya Hashimoto
NJ TV 3/21/92 taped 3/11
Shiro Koshinaka & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Akitoshi Saito & Shigeichi Tachigi
Shinya Hashimoto & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Super Strong Machine & Tatsu Goto
AJ TV 3/22/92 taped 3/20
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi. Excellent match
AJW TV taped 3/7/92
Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami
AJ TV 3/29 taped 3/27
'92 Champion Carnival League Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen
AJ TV taped 3/31
'92 Champion Carnival League Match: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue. Excellent match
AJ TV 4/12 taped 4/6
'92 Champion Carnival League Match: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Stan Hansen
NJ TV 4/25 taped 4/21
Riki Choshu & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Super Strong Machine & Hiro Saito
AJ TV
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Terry Gordy
NJ TV 5/2/92 taped 4/26
Riki Choshu & Hiroshi Hase & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Super Strong Machine & Hiro Saito & Tatsu Goto
Osamu Nishimura vs. Satoshi Kojima
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masa Chono
Strong Kobayashi & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Umanosuke Ueda & Tiger Jeet Singh
IWGP Tag Titles: Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase vs. Big Van Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow. Vader & Bigelow win titles.
Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Brian Blair
Kotetsu Yamamoto & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Hiroyoshi Yamamoto & Black Cat
El Samurai vs. Tiger Mask (Kanemoto)
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Akira Nogami
Antonio Inoki & Osamu Kido vs. Riki Choshu & Kengo Kimura
Williams vs. Hansen, Misawa vs. Gordy, Kobashi & Kawada vs. Tsuruta & Ogawa, Misawa vs.
Hansen-Champion Carnival Final, Ultimo vs. Satanico, Sano vs. Chavo Guerrero, Flair vs. Tenryu, Liger vs. Honaga, 4/30/92 Best of the Super Jr. Final Liger vs. Samurai-Liger wins Super Jr. *****, Kobashi & Misawa & Kawada vs. Ogawa & Fuchi & Tsuruta, Hase & Muto vs. Vader & Bigelow, Yoshida & Takako Inoue vs. Hasegawa & Malenko-Yoshida & Takako win tag titles, Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue ****3/4 Toyota wins IWA Title, WWWA World Single Title: Bull vs. Aja
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.
Kengo Kimura & Osamu Kido & Akira Nogami vs. Tony St. Claire & Brad Armstrong & Black Cat 11:06
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. El Samurai 26:06
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Oz 9:23
Vader vs. Tony Halme 9:18
Antonio Inoki & Hiroshi Hase vs. Rambo & Brad Rheinghans 13:54
Osamu Nishimura vs. Hiroyoshi Yamamoto 10:16
Shiro Koshinaka & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto 10:34
Pegasus Kid vs. Tiger Mask 12:56
SS Machine vs. Masahiro Chono 14:34. Digest
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Riki Choshu vs. Keiji Muto 15:55
5/21
Shinya Hashimoto & Keiji Muto vs. Big Van Vader & Matthew Rambo
Masahiro Chono & Akira Nogami vs. Tony Halme & Tony St. Claire
5/25
Keiji Muto & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Takayuki Iizuka & Akira Nogami
Riki Choshu & Shiro Koshinaka & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Masahiro Chono & Shinya Hashimoto & Hiroshi Hase
Muto vs. Windham, Misawa & Kobashi & Kawada vs. Taue & Fuchi & Ogawa, Steiners vs. Muto & Sasaki, Chono vs. Rude-Chono wins G-1 Climax Tournament & NWA Title, Hansen vs. Taue, more!
NJPW Wonderland G1 #5 taped 8/6/92
NWA World Heavyweight Championship Decision Tournament 1st Round:
Steve Austin vs. Arn Anderson
Keiji Muto vs. Barry Windham
Masahiro Chono vs. Tony Halme
NJPW Wonderland G1 #6 taped 8/10/92 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
NWA World Heavyweight Championship Decision Tournament 1st Round:
8/6/92: Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Scott Norton
Steve Austin vs. Keiji Muto
Masahiro Chono vs. Scott Norton
NJPW Wonderland G1 #7 taped 8/10/92 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
NWA World Heavyweight Championship Decision Tournament 2nd Round:
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Terry Taylor
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Rick Rude
8/11/92 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, Semifinal: Kensuke Sasaki vs. Rick Rude
NJPW Wonderland G1 #8 taped 8/11/92 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
NWA World Heavyweight Championship Decision Tournament Semifinal: Keiji Muto vs. Masahiro Chono
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 Title Match: Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Keiji Muto. Maeda & Takada win titles. ***1/4
Wonderland #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 Semifinals
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
Wonderland #535 taped 8/12/92 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Pegasus Kid 14:29. A bit short, but a hell of a match with two of the best wrestlers on the planet at the top of their game. Pegasus was better than Liger here, though both were great. This was Benoit at his peak, wrestling with the stiffness associated with his later career but without sacrificing his move set in the process. There was no real weardown, as from the outset he mixed good moves in with his brutality. Liger sold during the early stages, so his offense was mostly hot moves in the second half. The last 6 minutes provides some of the best work they've ever done together, and the fans were totally into it. Great finish where Liger tried to set up a nadare shiki move, but got powerbombed off the top rope. Definitely superior to their '93 G1 match, but what keeps it from being their best match is they didn't get much going in the first 8 minutes. It's longer than their 11/1/90 match, but the extra time isn't really utilized for development, so their brevity of the earlier encounter is actually a slight advantage due to putting them into high gear almost from the get go. While there were many great moves here, the overall quality of the work wasn't quite as good as 11/1/90 or even 8/19/90, as this was more a heavyweight set up the killer move match than their earlier more strictly Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid ones which relied more upon quick sequences/counters/transitions. ****1/2
Tatsumi Fujinami & Osamu Kido vs. Riki Choshu & Takayuki Iizuka 11:13. A pleasant surprise because all the veterans showed up. Iizuka was still the standout, but Kido was working on a higher level than expected and Fujinami & Choshu were smart at popping the crowd. Short, but good heated action. ***
Keiji Muto & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner 15:32. I never realized just how weak a seller Scott was, probably because who can remember him trying. He blew taking a backdrop and would overact that he was taking the blow before it even hit him. Turned into a good match with Steiners on offense. Muto made the match, bumping for Scott even though he was the big star of the match. This is the kind of match that shows what a great talent Muto was, and thus how far he went downhill. In the early 90's he'd make a match like this on his own when he didn't have to, later on he'd come closer to sabotaging it for no reason beyond not wanting to put in the effort. ***1/4
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto
IWGP Tag Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Masa Chono
IWGP Heavyweight & Greatest 18 Club Double Title Match: Riki Choshu vs. Keiji Muto. Muta takes the titles.
Masahiro Chono vs. Kensuke Sasaki
Hiroshi Hase vs. Shinya Hashimoto
Osamu Nishimura vs. Satoshi Kojima. 3:04 of 8:31
Hiro Saito vs. Black Cat. 3:05 of 10:49
Great Kokina & Wild Samoan vs. Super Strong Machine & Tatsu Goto. 3:26 of 9:12. Not bad. They stayed within themselves and did what they could do well, keeping everyone involved.
Jushin Thunder Liger & Hiroyoshi Yamamoto vs. El Samurai & Shinjiro Otani. 11:37 of about 17. Liger let Yamamoto sink or swim to the point it seemed like a handicap match at times. Yamamoto was largely destroyed, but he had a few moments and the fans got a kick out of his headbutts and mongolian chops. Liger vs. Samurai was top notch, as it always was that year. Good.
IWGP Heavyweight Title #1 Contender's Match: Scott Norton vs. Tony Halme. 9:14 shown. Norton did a good job of keeping this passable. He was energetic (at least relatively speaking) in these days, and even did some selling. Halme's idea seemed to be that his opponent should stand there and let him land some poorly faked strikes. *1/4
Kengo Kimura & Shiro Koshinaka & Masashi Aoyagi & Akitoshi Saito vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Riki Choshu & Osamu Kido & Takayuki Iizuka. 14:37. Simple but effective Choshu style match. As much intensity as you can get out of kicking and stomping all day, which isn't as much as you could get if you eventually developed something of a wrestling match. **
IWGP Heavyweight & Greatest 18 Club Double Title Match: The Great Muta vs. Shinya Hashimoto. Muto postponed the first lockup for two minutes then tried to escape to the floor but Hash put the boots to him. One reason Muta matches are so damn boring is they have no pace. He still does nice moves, but there's no flow or sequence, mostly just waiting for the few saving graces. Fans reacted when Hashimoto would go after Muta to make him work, but that would die down once Muta found his latest opening to stall. Fans really wanted to get into this match, but Muta wouldn't allow them to stay into it. **
IWGP Tag Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki. 19:15. I'll give the devil his due, these matches were better with Muta, if only because that put Hase in the position to sell for the opponents. Here Sasaki was the bump boy, and though Hase's offense is much more interesting, it's much more important to have him selling when the opponent is the Steiners. The Muta matches seemed to have a lot more energy too. This one was 3/4 over with Hase out on the apron before it truly became dramatic. Sasaki wasn't that impressive, but Hase vs. Rick was damn good back and forth action. Scott took about 5 moves in a row once, seemingly a record, but made up for it by being on offense almost the rest of the time he was in. ***
NWA Heavyweight Title: Masa Chono vs. Steve Austin. 17:08. Considering what these two became, it almost seems weird bragging about what a good technical match this was. But in these days they both wrestled very solid matches that could have taken place a decade or two earlier. Good solid old school wrestling. Some roughhousing by Austin, when it was necessary. ***
Wonderland #542
9/23/92 Kanagawa Yokohama Arena: SS Machine & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Wild Samoan & Great Kokina 9:12. SS & Goto looked like jobbers most of the match. They put Kokina over when they weren't double teaming him, and Samoan didn't sell much for them either. Goto did most of the selling, which is scary. SS won with seemingly his teams first offense, predicated on Kokina accidentally splashing his own partner. *
10/21/92 Hamamatsu Arena
Hiroyoshi Yamamoto & Isamu Nishimura vs. Yuji Nagata & Tokimitsu Ishizawa 13:52. Good technical wrestling from Ishizawa, Nagata, & Nishimura. Simple but sound wrestling. Better than their singles matches in early 1993. **
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Senshuken: El Samurai vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 15:06. Liger's '92 program was Samurai was sometimes similar to his '89 program with Naoki Sano, even in match quality, though it never gets even a portion of the credit. This match brought the two together, as Sano was in the crowd. Liger challenged him before the match, but Sano just ignored him. The early portion had some explosive moments that popped the crowd and bought them time. Samurai totally dominated the match, often seeming a step ahead of Liger. Liger would keep the hope alive by countering into a near fall, but didn't take over until the last two minutes of the match popping the crowd with an Orihara moonsault. Ended a bit early, but you were thinking Liger was doing so much selling because he was bringing the title home when suddenly Samurai turns the nadare shiki no blockbuster into a sunset flip for the win. Liger managed to put Samurai over huge without looking weak, partially making you forget how bad he should have come off by going back to the potential Sano rematch after the match. Unfortunately that match didn't wind up coming off for another three years, and with Sano then in a dying UWF-I it couldn't be wrestled like their initial classics. ****
Masao Orihara vs. Akitoshi Saito 11:14. Amazingly good wrestler vs. martial artist match, with fiery up and comer Orihara giving an all-star performance in carrying limited bruiser Saito to probably the most successful match of his career. Orihara was on the rise but far from exceptional at this point, and there are definitely some creaky moments where the fakeness was readily apparently, but as a whole they succeeded on desire, passion, and emotion. Everyone being jacked up for an early encounter in the NJPW vs. WAR interpromotional feud was a huge plus they were able to build the match around. From a technical standpoint, the match was no better than good, but the heat, hatred, and intensity coming from both the performers and the fans made it riveting and memorable. One reason the atmosphere was so great is the WAR fans are completely rabid, taking offense to the idea of NJPW being the better league, and just going nuts for their boys. They structured the match to not only play into their strengths, but garner the loudest pops. Saito is the tougher more dominant fighter who thrives on kicking the stuffing out of his opposition, so he dominated the match, with Orihara displaying enough quickness and guile to always be in the match. Orihara did an excellent job of putting over Saito’s strikes, which when they connected were extra brutal because interpromotional matches are “real”, including a knee that busted Orihara’s mouth hard way. Orihara would transition into a submission at regular intervals, often enough to keep the fans, who were standing up and swinging their fists from bell to bell, believing in him. He played the fiesty underdog who wanted so badly to succeed, making every choke sleeper or Achilles’ tendon hold into an event by playing them for all they were worth. The controversial finish where Orihara claimed he kicked out was not my favorite, but the post match was well played with Orihara grabbing the ref and threatening him then Masashi Aoyagi coming in and cleaning house on the WAR guys. ***3/4
Shiro Koshinaka & Kengo Kimura vs. Genichiru Tenryu & Koki Kitahara 19:45. Tenryu & Koshinaka know exactly what they are doing in these heated situations, putting on a clinic in simple but effective brawling. They don’t deal in garbage; they brawl by serving up fistfuls of hatred. They are not merely stiff, but malicious with Tenryu putting that little extra into everything to the point he ran so hard he went flying over the top rope after his own lariat! What separates these two from so many others and makes them superb at these rivalry matches is they know 100 ways to incite each other as well as the fans, and implement one at every turn. The primary story was Kitahara getting pummelled, with Koshinaka & Kimura making no real attempt to pin him because they preferred to goad Tenryu by mercilessly slaughtering his boy. There were only spurts of wrestling, almost all of which involved Tenryu vs. Koshinaka, and even then I’m mostly thinking of the finish, but this truly was a WAR. The bad blood from the earlier match carried over to this rival league must die match, as they started beating each other up from the moment the second team walked out. It didn’t take long for the blood to flow, with the seconds joining in from time to time, including Orihara gaining a measure of revenge by beating Saito & Aoyagi up with a chair. There was often too much going on to keep up with, but it was wild rather than chaotic. The fans were very unruly by Japanese standards, regularly littering the ring with objects including a fan scoring a bullseye on Kimura to punish him for having the gall to make a save. Though Kimura was at his most savage, he was by far the weak link. He played a Masa Fuchi style irksome pest, but in a very bland manner as he can stomp, but lacks Fuchi’s craftiness and meanspirited nature. Though a totally different style from the previous match, it was another spiteful, intense and passionate interpromotional battle with massive heat. No one cared that the match ended, the feud was just beginning! Kimura wanted revenge, but Tenryu dispatched of him and kept giving Koshinaka powerbombs until Masa Saito made the save. ****
Muta vs. Norton twice, Ultimo Dragon vs. Samurai-11/22/92-Ultimo wins IWGP Jr. Title, Muta vs. Sting, Steiners vs. Norton & Halme-Norton & Halme win IWGP tag titles
11/22/92 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
IWGP Jr. Title: El Samurai vs. Ultimo Dragon. Dragon wins title.
IWGP Heavyweight Title: The Great Muta vs. Sting
IWGP Tag Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Scott Norton & Tony Halme. Norton & Halme win titles.
12/1/92 Chiba Koen Taiikukan
Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase vs. Hell Raisers
Wonderland #548
12/11/92 Nagoya Rainbow Hall: Satoshi Kojima vs. Osamu Nishimura 9:59. *3/4
12/14/92 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Tatsumi Fujinami & Akira Nogami vs. Takashi Ishikawa & Koki Kitahara 14:01. ***1/4
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Genichiru Tenryu 20:43. ****
Wonderland #549 8/10/99 taped 12/14/92 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Masahiro Chono & Takayuki Iizuka vs. The Great Kabuki & Akitoshi Saito 12:51. **1/2
Hiroshi Hase vs. The Great Muta 23:02. ****1/2
IWGP Tag Title Match: Scott Norton & Tony Halme vs. Hawk Warrior & Power Warrior 6:10. Hellraisers win titles.