-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 Liger 8:39. Kind of an odd match, as they wanted the title on Liger as soon as possible because he was the new sensation, yet they didn't seem to trust him so Liger was pretty much protected in a short match that Hase totally carried. Hase surprised everyone charging at the bell with a dropkick and using a front suplex to set up a plancha, but soon showed it was going to be his style of diverse technical match rather than a Liger aerial assualt. Hase would have his way with Liger except when Liger would find an opening to use his speed and athleticism to counter than have a burst of flying before Hase countered back. Hase was precise and skilled as ever and Liger was all sorts of scrappy, so the match was fun, albeit not exactly developed. ***
7/12/89 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match 3Min 10Rd: Jushin Liger vs. Black Tiger R5 2:53. Liger was the new ultra athletic superhero, so it was only natural that Black Tiger would be brought in to carry him and help get him over, just as he did for Tiger Mask. Though Rocco is a very talented wrestler, Sayama's matches with Rocco weren't as exciting as his other main rivals, and I wasn't overly thrilled with the direction Rocco took here. He got the crowd to react, but it was largely to his rudo techniques and Liger's subsequent fighting fire with fire rather than Liger's athleticism, which at this point was what made him special. Dives were so much rarer in these days that the entire crowd seemed to stand when Liger ascended to the top for his plancha. Tiger wrestled technically in the first and they got spot happy in the 5th, but in between Tiger was content to employ such deadly manuevers as choking Liger with his towel and attacking him with a plastic bucket of ice. The other aspect that seemed to hinder the match from reaching it's potential was the rounds style, which, more often than not, prevented flow and rendered the action that much more random. ***1/4
Wonderland Liger #3
8/10/89 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Naoki Sano 15:38. A totally different match from 7/13/89, much more toward later (peak) Liger. Having shown no particular aptitude for selling since he donned the hood, Liger suddenly shows why he'd soon be known as the king of the junior sellers, doing a beautiful job of putting over the shoulder Sano & Kantaro Hoshino destroyed in a tag match two days earlier. Liger wears football shoulder pads, but they, like everything else, do little to aid his injured left wing, which Sano continues to attack mercilessly throughout. Liger can't seem to get out of his own way, injuring himself performing his own offense such as a shoulderblock. He winds up doing a lot of stomps because they are among the safest things he can do, but even with these, he's selling his shoulder between every one. Still, he manages to bust Sano open. One big change here is they are breaking each other down, so the match is much slower paced. It isn't nearly as high flying or insane as 7/13/89, it's more a traditional, even leaning toward a heavyweight match despite their athleticism, with crisp technical wrestling and badass hatred spots. They get a lot out of the flying they do use, and just about everything else for that matter, as we can see them not only knowing how to counter, but beginning to counter with reasoning and timing. I loved the spot where Liger countered a go behind, but Sano then dropped down into a wakigatame. Basic stuff, but worked perfectly within the context of the match. I'm guessing the shoulder injury is all about NJ not having confidence in the fans willingness to accept Liger's mortality, but luckily the fans wouldn't demand he be essentially spotless as Tiger Mask was. They understood Liger gave all he had, and took it as a heroic showing even though only Sano got up from his avalanche backdrop this time. ****3/4
1/18/90 _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
1/18/90 Yamaguchi Toyama Shi Taiikukan
IWGP Junior Next Challenger Decision League Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Hiro Saito 12:53. This is the Liger we are used to with the red mask, red and white body suit, and Thunder as his middle name. Hiro heels it up, introducing a chair, and Liger is more than happy to give it back to him, even piledriving Saito on a table. Hiro is not the least bit spectacular but nonetheless effective on offense as he usually was in the early 90's, having enough impact on his suplexes and senton to be credible. He will never have a match of the year, but he's fine for minor matches, the thing is they should be minor heavyweight matches. The downside of Hiro is woefully apparent here, as he doesn't have nearly enough athleticism for the junior division. He can't take a decent bump off the middle rope, and more importantly, he lacks the flexibility for even simple counters into basic pins, which by the way kills the finish of the match. Despite Liger having to dumb down and Hiro's girth getting in the way a few times, the match was both effective and entertaining. Unfortunately, it just kind of ended when you thought it was about to take off. **3/4
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 12:30. The biggest drawback of Owen Hart is, although the guy had all the talent in the world, he would so often do just enough to make the match good. Tiger wasn't exactly doing anything to get him out of that mindset either, in fact he wasn't doing much beyond setting Hart up. Despite the brevity, there were a lot of restholds early. They did surround these with some nice stuff though. Actually, the match was looking promising with Owen bouncing all around, pulling off a kip up or backflip out of much of what Tiger could hold him with, but it was somewhat derailed when Owen couldn't get up for his leapfrog and thus took a headbutt to the groin, which didn't do wonders for Tiger's neck, either. They slowed down to recover when they'd normally be speeding up, and by the time they were ready to go, the match was almost over. **3/4
IWGP Junior Next Challenger Decision League Match: Jushin Liger v Akira Nogami 11:59. Nogami had the athleticism, and Liger was of the mindset to carry him. Nogami wasn't wrestling with a great deal of confidence, slowing down to make sure he knew the next spot, but he generally faired well. Liger sold a lot for him, especially early on to give him credibility. The fans weren't reacting, but I thought it was a fun little match. It was weird seeing Liger win with an Argentine backbreaker, as it was not only out of nowhere, but I don't recall him even using the move before. ***
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. *****
IWGP Tag Title Match: Masa Saito & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Big Van Vader & Great Kokina
2/10/1990 Tokyo Dome:
Naoki Sano & Pegasus Kid vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Akira Nogami 7:14 of 16:54. Though the heat was still on Liger vs. Sano, the match was ultimately notable for the arrival of Pegasus. Pegasus was solid, certainly a few steps above Nogami, but not nearly in the class with Sano. Considering it was the Tokyo Dome, aka mausoleum of juniors, I was surprised at how loud the audience was, especially since the match was good but by no means outstanding.
Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto & Norio Honaga vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kuniaki Kobayashi & Kantaro Hoshino
Steve Williams vs. Salman Hashimikov
Super Strong Machine & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Riki Choshu & George Takano
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 13:55. Liger & Sano kicked off their legendary fued that first announced their arrival at the top level and soon made them household names with this futuristic aerial war, an insane battle of one-upsmanship that always ultimately proved how evenly matched they were because neither could sustain an advantage no matter what risks they took or how much they disregarded their safety. The match was way ahead of its time for highspots, athleticism, and daring, but also had depth because they were able to get across the idea they were so evenly matched they were pushing each other to previously unattained levels of excellent. The fued was so notable for its intensity, starting before the bell even rang as they wouldn't take their eyes off each other, their stone-faced stare unbroken even by a reluctant pre-match handshake. They matched each other's athleticism at the outset to pop the crowd then technical skill exchanging Romero specials. When the ordinary was not enough, they began raising the bar for daring further and further including Liger doing a rolling senton to the floor, Sano vaulting himself over the top rope Kamikaze style with a body press then following with a missile kick to the floor. There was a Sano huracanrana that didn't quite work and then Liger was too close after Sano's backflip out of the corner for Sano to do his rolling heel kick, but otherwise their chemistry was awesome and anything that didn't hit perfectly added to the recklessness factor. The fault of the match is the double knockout finish came out of nowhere because there was no selling to lead up to it. I understand the idea that this level of opposition called for them to do anything they could think of until they succeeded or their body gave out, but because they couldn't really gain an advantage it didn't make sense for them to both suddenly be unable to get up from Sano's avalanche backdrop. The finish drew gasps from the stunned audience that had been going nuts for quite a while; you could sense their disappointment but they soon gave both a good highly appreciative hand. ****1/2
Wonderland Liger #4
3/5/90 Okinama Okumuyama (?) Taiikukan: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Cheetah Kid (Ted "Rocco Rock" Petty) 9:24. It's nice to see Rocco before he got into grunge, but I have no idea why they included this match, as it's one of Liger's worst. Cheetah had a way of making things look at least a bit awkward. For such a good athlete, he is rather mechanical and, next to Liger, comes off as nothing more than an imposter indy junior. The match was very much of the you do your spots and I do mine variety. Liger tried, but they had no chemistry. *3/4
1/30/90 Gifu Taiikukan: 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
Takayuki Iizuka vs. Osamu Matsuda
Brad Rheingans vs. Victor Zangiev
Steve Williams vs. Salman Hashimikov
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Big Van Vader vs. Stan Hansen 15:47. Dream battle of the top gaijin in NJ defending against the top gaijin in AJ. It's legendary because a couple minutes into the match Hansen's punches dislocate Vader's eye so badly it is pretty much held in only by the immediately super swollen eyelid, and Vader simply takes his mask off so he can do a better job of popping the eyeball back in and continues more or less as if nothing had happened. But apart from that, it's about the least dynamic match you'll ever see, and rather boring. The stand toe to toe the entire time, rarely is there more than a foot between them, and blugeon each other with short little blows that alternately hurt really badly and miss. Though these are the sort of blows you can really injure someone with, they actually don't work that well in a fake setting, as the audience can't hear, or half the time even see them, and thus the crowd is dead most of the time. I give Vader a ton of credit for being crazy enough to not simply mail it in, and he was making a genuine effort to entertain, but, at least for me, it wasn't translating that well. I was really annoyed by the pre UWF style lame countout finish, I guess because they could have just called the match off and sent Vader to the hospital, but they stuck with it to eventually find their way to a different means to no end. **1/4
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Masahiro Chono
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 6:34 of 8:10. Entertaining little sprint. Liger was more motivated here, and beginning to get into a groove with Pegasus. These two are very good, and Cheetah, while hardly great, is at least more than happy to catipult his body.
Shinya Hashimoto & Masa Saito vs. Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow & Punisher Dice Morgan (The Undertaker)
Super Strong Machine vs. George Takano
Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Riki Choshu & Masahiro Chono
3/5/90: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Cheetah Kid (Ted "Rocco Rock" Petty) 9:24. Cheetah had a way of making things look at least a bit awkward. For such a good athlete, he is rather mechanical and, next to Liger, comes off as nothing more than an imposter indy junior. The match was very much of the you do your spots and I do mine variety. Liger tried, but they had no chemistry. *3/4
3/5/90
George Takano & Masahiro Chono vs. Super Strong Machine & Hiro Saito
Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow & Larry Cameron vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Riki Choshu
3/15/90
Hiroshi Hase & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Norio Honaga & Hiro Saito 14:46. Simple, effective match with Blood Outlaws controlling through shady methods, setting up brief bursts of hot offense from Liger & Hase. Blood Outlaws jumped Liger & Hase before the bell and generally roughed them up, quickly cutting them off with a low blow or double team everytime they seemed to gain momentum. Liger eventually had enough, taking a chair to Saito then jumping off the top to stuff Hase's piledriver. Hase & Liger were very good, and Honaga & Saito were able to stay within their element. ***1/4
Masa Saito & Koji Kitao vs. Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow & Punisher Dice Morgan
3/15/90
Masa Chono & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Larry Cameron & The Barbarian (John Nord)
Seiji Sakaguchi Retirement Match: Scott Hall & Mike Kirchner vs. Seiji Sekaguchi & Kengo Kimura
Riki Choshu & George Takano vs. Strong Machine & Tatsutoshi Goto
3/19/90 Hiroshima Kenritsu Taiikukan: Hiroshi Hase & George Takano & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Norio Honaga & Tatsutoshi Goto & Hiro Saito 14:50. Though you want your main heel to not merely dominate, but strike fear in the audience's heart, what you really want from your other heels is to be annoying so they'll elicit fiery performances from the faces. Blood Outlaws jumping the faces at the bells, and taking their shortcuts only served to motivate the opposition, who wrestled with a spark. The difference in Takano was most noticable, as he's prone to being lackadaisical. You knew the match was working when you heard the audience's reaction to the faces all putting the boots to Goto at once. Fun and effective match. ***1/4
4/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Tatsutoshi Goto & Super Strong Machine vs. George Takano & Masahiro Chono
Koji Kitao vs. Mike Kirchner
Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow & Larry Cameron vs. Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto
4/27/90 Tokyo Bay NK Hall
Kengo Kimura vs. Osamu Kido
Jushin Thunder Liger & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto 9:18. Minor entry in the Liger vs. Blood Outlaws program. Liger is super over, getting reaction to everything he does, especially his flying. There's surprisingly little reaction to Outlaws double teams and low blows though. It's like the fans boo them once, then realize that's all these guys can do. Liger got a big pop for laying kicks into Hiro's chest until he released his Boston crab on Kensuke though. **
Super Strong Machine vs. Shiro Koshinka 10:46. This wasn't their finest moment. It had a few brief good segments, but they weren't clicking. Koshinaka missed a leap frog and hurt his ankle landing on his feet to counter a suplex. Machine worked the ankle, and I guess this played into the finish as Machine kinda grabs the ankle in midair to counter Koshinaka's hip attack, but it doesn't look like much. *1/2
5/5/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Super Strong Machine & Hiro Saito vs. Hiroshi Hase & Apollo Sugawara 16:34. Starts in the requisite Blood Outlaws manner with them jumping before the bell, but rather than the typical shady domination, Saito winds up doing quite a bit of selling. Sugawara has the posture of the thuggish bodyguard who can't get out of his own way, but althogh he lacks grace, he does his moves well enough. Still, you are begging Hase not to tag because he's the best wrestler in the match by miles, and is elevating the quality quite a bit without much assistance. Hase's enthusiasm keeps the crowd involved in this rather ordinary match. Finish doesn't really work, as although Blood Outlaws aren't getting their way as usual, this is one of those rejects from the pre-UWF era where they seemingly just pick an indescriminate time to end it via screw job. In this case, Animal Hamaguchi tooks the opportunity to flash his diving elbow. **1/4
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Masahiko Takasugi
Shiro Koshinka vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 16:52. Intense match in the style of the Koshinaka era, mixing UWF strikes and submissions with energetic running segments. Liger starts in full martial arts mode, blistering Koshinaka with kicks and now adding the shotei to his arsenal. There's a few too many indescriminate submissions, but these two are so motivated the time always passes quickly. They are also smart, doing something to pick the crowd up in between stretching each other out. Koshinaka might not have the best high spots, but his speed and enthusiam more than make up for it, and he always winds up getting some of the best crowd reactions. The fans are really hot down the stretch, but as with many of the junior matches of this era, it ends just when you begin to think it has the potential to be something special. ***3/4
Masahiro Chono & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masa Saito & Riki Choshu
5/24/90 Tokyo Bay NK Hall
Hiroshi Hase vs. Norio Honaga 11:13. Match is just kind of there. Honaga is fine in tag, but has yet to figure out how to work around his lack of offense in singles. He has the advantage too much, and it hurts the match. Hase also isn't into this one as much as usual. **
Jushin Thunder Liger & Osamu Kido & Kengo Kimura vs. Hiro Saito & Super Strong Machine & Tatsutoshi Goto 13:45. Liger was a real spark plug, working brief fast paced segments that ignited the audience. He was singlehandedly making the match, which was lucky as he wasn't getting much help. Saito was the best on the heel side, taking a lot and showing something beyond the Blood Outlaw standard when he was on offense. Kimura wasn't doing much to distinguish himself from the heels, and Kido can always pop the crowd with his couple of over moves, but doesn't deliver a whole lot else. **3/4
5/28/90 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Kensuke Sasaki & Kuniaki Kobayashi & Apollo Sugawara vs. Animal Hamaguchi & Super Strong Machine & Tatsutoshi Goto
Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Steve Williams 9:46. This battle of the super heavyweight gaijins had promise, but never really came off. They began structuring the match around parity spots, building up to who could knock each other down first. Williams nearly died when Bigelow couldn't bend low enough for Williams to leap frog him. Okay, I exaggerate, but Williams was down for two minutes, shoeing Bigelow away every time Bam Bam tried to restart the match. Eventually, when he was ready to go, Williams did the Chono reverse kick to the balls to make things even. The intensity picked up tremendously as they exchanged stiff shots, but that lead to them brawling on the outside forever. I kept getting ready to get pissed that it was going to be a countout, doubly so since with the interruption, they really hadn't even got going yet. The ref ignored that part, but then disqualified Williams for repeated chair shots once they'd reentered. Bigelow bladed, and they continued brawling until Williams had to be restrained because he'd beaten Bigelow helpless, but still this was really just the concept of these two having a wrestling match.
Big Van Vader vs. Koji Kitao
5/28/90 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
IWGP Tag Title Match: Keiji Muto & Masa Chono vs. Hiroshi Hase & Shiro Koshinaka 21:01. A nice combination of Chono and Hase's old school technical match with Muto & Koshinaka's fast paced junior match, getting excellent contributions across the board. The match built slowly, with Chono & Hase being the driving forces in the scientific early stages. The technical wrestling was very well executed, but generally meandered as it lacked a story or focus to give it meaning or make on believe in it as a finisher. The match would pick up when Muto & Koshinaka came in, but they saved most of the spots for the later portion. In stages, they picked up the pace and incorporated more spots until they were generally sprinting in the final minutes, apart from an attempt at a legit submission finisher such as Chono's STF. The fans were into it all the way, not showing any particular allegiance, but rather supporting whoever was losing or exciting them at that particular moment. ***3/4
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Riki Choshu 13:34. Although a bit on the short side, this is my favorite Hashimoto/Choshu match. Their matches are always brutal fights, wars really, so the offense is more or less the same, but I like how they structured this one, and it results in awesome reactions to every notable event. Though Choshu is the legend and previous IWGP Heavyweight Champion whereas Hashimoto is more than 3 years away from his first title run, Hashimoto did defeat Choshu in the title tournament on 4/24/89, and they use that and his generally overwhelming toughness to play the match as though he's the favorite and Choshu is the underdog. Choshu is fine when he can tie Hashimoto up, though that doesn't provide any offense of interest, but loses every toe to toe battle because his headbutts are no match for Hashimoto's kicks and chops. He basically has to concede this fact, and figure out a surprise attack in order to go on a run. Choshu finally scores, catching a charging Hashimoto by laying him out with a wicked elbow, and the good news for him is he's able to bully Hashimoto once he's seized the advantage. However, once Hashimoto counters with a DDT, he easily goes back to devouring Choshu. Choshu again has to pull something out of the hat, countered a charging Hashimoto, this time with his Riki lariat. Choshu totally unloads on Hashimoto, using multiple Riki lariats, diving kneedrop, sasorigatame, all his mainstays and anything he can think up. Hashimoto again has trouble regaining the momentum once Choshu is rolling, but he can take everything Choshu can throw at him, and is simply too brutal and powerful for Choshu to handle. The result is another upset that goes a long way toward solidifying Hashimoto's upper card status because at no time does the match ever feel like an upset, it instead feels like an inevitability, and that's really to Choshu's credit, as unlike the fluke at the Tokyo Dome, he put Hashimoto all the way over in this one. ***3/4
6/12/90 Fukuoka Sports Center: Keiji Muto vs. Masahiro Chono 26:26. Supposed to be built around parity, but often seemed to have the motto "I can do nothing just as well as you." A Chono style technical match of the slowest and dullest variety, the match quite simply dragged. It was several steps down from what Chono was doing with Hase on 5/28/90, which is surprising even given how much better than Hase is on the mat than Muto. Thought Muto can be counted on to work a knee, the sort of continuity that was missing in the 5/28 match, he is also at least as willing as Chono to lay around and do next to nothing, whereas Hase has a much better sense of when to move on to a different hold or leave the mat entirely. Chono eventually took Muto's knee, primarily with figure 4's, but most of this was getting little to no reaction as the activity level was generally very low. When they finally stood up, they did stereo dropkicks but Muto's elbow defeated Chono's jumping elbow and he put him away with the moonsault. This is about as soporific as Muto vs. white Chono can get. **
6/26/90 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Kengo Kimura vs. The Soultaker
Owen Hart vs. Pegasus Kid 12:10. I wish these two would have had more matches, as you could see the potential for greatness, but they lacked the familiarity with one another, and mainly Benoit lacked the belief. It started great with Pegasus really taking it to Owen, guerrila pressing him to the floor and following with a snap suplex. Owen tried to use his speed to counteract Pegasus' power, but got caught in a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. This woke Owen up, and he began showing Pegasus he could be as stiff and powerful as him. For whatever reason, Pegasus lost his confidence as soon as Owen took over and began carrying the match. Pegasus didn't look at home during much of the body, which mixed Owen's gymnastic counters with too many rest holds. Though they hadn't developed their chemistry, causing a moment or two of uncertainty, Pegasus was really on early and nothing happened that should have changed this. Luckily, Pegasus got it back for the finish, surprisingly kicking out of the moonsault then scoring the big upset, knocking Owen out with the nadare shiki backdrop. ***3/4
Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Steve Williams
2/3 Falls: Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki & Kuniaki Kobayashi & Shiro Koshinaka & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Animal Hamaguchi & Strong Machine & Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto & Masanobu Kurisu
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!
6/26/90 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono vs. Masa Saito & Shinya Hashimoto
6/30/90 Nagano Ueda Shimin Taiikukan
Masahiro Chono vs. The Soultaker
Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow & Owen Hart vs. Steve Williams & Pegasus Kid
Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Animal Hamaguchi & Tatsutoshi Goto & Masanobu Kurisu
6/30/90 Nagano Ueda Shimin Taiikukan: Keiji Muto vs. Brad Rheingans
7/5/90 Iwate-ken
Masa Saito vs. Steve Williams
Masahiro Chono & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Brad Rheingans & Pegasus Kid
Keiji Muto vs. Owen Hart
Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow & The Soultaker
7/22/90 Sapporo Tsukisama Green Dome
Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Masanobu Kurisu
Riki Choshu & Masa Saito vs. Great Kokina & Wild Samoan
Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono vs. Animal Warrior & Hawk Warrior
8/16/90 Chiba Koen Taiikukan
Jushin Thunder Liger & Kensuke Sasaki & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Super Strong Machine & Tatsutoshi Goto & Pegasus Kid
Animal Hamaguchi vs. Masanobu Kurisu
Riki Choshu & Kengo Kimura vs. Mike Enos & Wayne Bloom 8:53
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!
8/19/90 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Shinya Hashimoto & Masa Saito vs. Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow & The Soultaker
2/3 Falls: Masanobu Kurisu & Hiroshi Itakura & Ryuma Go & Masashi Aoyagi & Masahiko Takasugi vs. Tatsutoshi Goto & Super Strong Machine & Animal Hamaguchi & Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga
9/14/90 Hiroshima Sun Plaza
Masahiro Chono & Masa Saito vs. The Great Kokina & Wild Samoan
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Big Van Vader
9/14/90 Hiroshima Sun Plaza
Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Takayuki Iizuka
Hiroshi Hase vs. The Great Muta
9/30/90 Kanagawa Yokohama Arena
IWGP Junior Title Next Challenger Decision Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Villano V
Exhibition Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Shiro Koshinaka
9/30/90 Kanagawa Yokohama Arena
Masahiro Chono vs. TNT
Great Muta vs. Ricky Steamboat
10/90 Green Dome Maebashi
Tiger Jeet Singh vs. Big Van Vader
Tatsumi Fujinami & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi
1/90 Chiba Koen Taiikukan: Keiji Muto & Shinya Hashimoto & Masahiro Chono vs. Big Van Vader & The Soultaker & Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow
10/90 Green Dome Maebashi
Jushin Thunder Liger & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Masashi Aoyagi & Masahiko Takasugi
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Larry Cameron
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Masahiro Chono
10/90 Green Dome Maebashi: Hiroshi Hase vs. Keiji Muto
10/29/90
Jushin Thunder Liger & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Hiro Saito & Pegasus Kid
Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Super Strong Machine & Tatsutoshi Goto
Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & Masanobu Kurisu
10/29/90
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Animal Hamaguchi
Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto & Masa Saito vs. Big Van Vader & Larry Cameron & Bad News Brown
11/28/90 Fukuoka Hakata Starlane
Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Masa Saito
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ryuma Go
11/28/90 Fukuoka Hakata Starlane
Masanobu Kurisu vs. Hiro Saito
Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi vs. Super Strong Machine & Tatsutoshi Goto
12/3/90 Baghdad Iraq: Riki Choshu & Masa Saito vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki
12/7/90 Kanagawa
Jushin Thunder Liger & Takayuki Iizuka & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Tatsutoshi Goto & Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga
Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono vs. Andrei Sulsaev & Chimur Zarasov
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!
12/7/90 Kanagawa
Tatsumi Fujinami & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Masa Saito & Kuniaki Kobayashi
Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki & Hiroshi Hase vs. Brad Rheingans & Bad News Brown & Scott Norton
12/11/90 Nagoya Rainbow Hall
Masa Saito vs. Scott Norton
Keiji Muto vs. Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow
IWGP Tag Title Match: Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Super Strong Machine & Tatsutoshi Goto
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!
Black Cat vs. Osamu Nishimura
Handicap Match: Super Strong Machine & Hiro Saito vs. Michiyoshi Ohara & Koji Kanemoto & Hiroyoshi Yamamoto
Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Masanobu Kurisu
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Kensuke Sasaki
Masahiro Chono vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi
Hiroshi Hase vs. Jushin Thunder Liger. Great technical match with old style mat wrestling giving way to modern highspots.
Keiji Muto vs. Takayuki Iizuka
7/91 Kagoshima Kenritsu Taiikukan: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Brad Rheingans
7/4/91 Fukuoka Kokusai Center
Hiro Saito & Super Strong Machine vs. Kim Duk & Masanobu Kurisu
Mitsuhiro Matsunaga vs. Masashi Aoyagi
Mascara Contra Mascara: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Pegasus Kid
Tatsumi Fujinami & Riki Choshu vs. Demolition Ax & Canadian Giant
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
2/4/92
Tony St.Clair & Brad Armstrong vs. Kengo Kimura & Masa Saito
Tony Halme vs. Kim Duk
Hiroshi Hase & Masahiro Chono vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Shiro Koshinaka
Keiji Muto & Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow & Scott Norton & Rambo
2/8/92 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Shinya Hashimoto & Akira Nogami vs. Pegasus Kid & Brad Armstrong
2/8/92 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Scott Norton vs. Tony Halme
Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Shiro Koshinaka
Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow & Matthew Rambo vs. Riki Choshu & Akira Nogami
IWGP Junior & WCW Light Heavyweight Title Unification Match: Jushin Thunder Liger (WCW champ) vs. Norio Honaga (IWGP champ)
2/8/92 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Akitoshi Saito vs. Michiyoshi Ohara
Koji Kanemoto vs. Osamu Nishimura. Digest
Black Cat & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Osamu Kido & Hiroyoshi Yamamoto. Digest
Masa Saito & Kengo Kimura vs. Tony St. Clair & Kim Duk. Digest
2/10/92 Nagoya Rainbow Hall
Bam Bam Bigelow & Tony Halme vs. Rambo & Kim Duk
IWGP Junior & WCW Light Heavyweight Double Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Pegasus Kid
Ishu Kakutogisen: Kuniaki Kobayashi & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Akitoshi Saito & Shigeru Tajiri
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
5/17/92 Osaka Jo Hall
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. El Samurai 26:06
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Oz 9:23
Antonio Inoki & Hiroshi Hase vs. Rambo & Brad Rheinghans 13:54
Pegasus Kid vs. Tiger Mask 12:56
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.