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New Japan Tokyo Dome Show 1994
review by Kevin Wilson The Date: January 4th, 1994 Ah, the yearly New Japan Tokyo Dome Show. Sometimes its a great show, sometimes not, but it always does a good job at showing what direction New Japan's booking will be going in the new year. 1991 to 1997 were New Japan's best years, so I have somewhat high expectations for this card. Course, Hogan is on the card which means that Beefcake will be on the card... is that a fair trade? The Steiners have a match as well and there are a number of American stars here for the big event. Here is the full card: - Shiro Koshinaka, Great Kabuki, Kengo Kimura, Kuniaki Kobayashi, and Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Osamu Kido, El Samurai, Satoshi Kojima, Manabu Nakanishi, and Yuji Nagata New Japan, per usual, showed the card out of order so I put it back how it seen by the live crowd. The Tenryu/Inoki match was not shown on the official release (bastards), but I have it on another DVD so it will be reviewed as well. Koshinaka, Great Kabuki, Kimura, Kobayashi, and Ohara vs. Osamu Kido, El Samurai, Kojima, Nakanishi, and Yuji Nagata Nagata tags in Kojima, scoop slam by Kojima, he goes to the second rope and hits an elbow drop. Kojima dropkicks Koshinaka off the apron, leading to him getting beat down by Koshinaka and his team mates. Ohara tags in Kobayashi, Irish whip by Kobayashi but Kojima sneaks in a sunset flip for a two count. Kojima tags in El Samurai, Irish whip by Kobayashi but El Samurai rolls him up for a one count. Irish whip again by Kobayashi and he throws El Samurai onto the ramp. On the ramp Kobayashi kicks El Samurai in the stomach and delivers the face crusher. Kobayashi picks up El Samurai and throws him back into the ring before tagging in Great Kabuki. Irish whip by Great Kabuki and he delivers a lariat for a two count cover. Great Kabuki tags in Koshinaka, scoop slam by Koshinaka and he tags in Kimura. Heel kick/hip attack combination by Kimura and Koshinaka, and Kimura applies a single leg crab lock until Nakanishi breaks it up. Kimura tags in Kobayashi, El Samurai dropkicks Kobayashi and hits a Frankensteiner for a two count. Irish whip by El Samurai, reversed, and Kobayashi hits a Fisherman suplex for a two count. Kobayashi tags in Kimura as El Samurai tags in Kojima, Irish whip by Kimura but Kojima hits a jumping elbow. Another elbow by Kojima, Kimura tags in Great Kabuki but Kojima elbows him as well. Irish whip by Kojima to the corner but Great Kabuki nails him with a super kick as he charges in. Kojima tags in Kido, Kido slaps an armbar onto Great Kabuki but it is quickly broken up. El Samurai hits a missile dropkick off the top turnbuckle onto Great Kabuki as El Samurai tags in Nagata. Jumping knee by Nagata but Great Kabuki tags in Ohara. Irish whip by Nagata to Ohara and he gives him a jumping knee as well followed by an overhead suplex for a two count. Nagata picks up Ohara but Ohara elbows him and Koshinaka comes off the top turnbuckle with a diving hip attack. Ohara picks up Nagata and hits a nodowa otoshi, he picks him back up and delivers a second nodowa otoshi. Cover, and he picks up the three count! Your winners: Shiro Koshinaka, Great Kabuki, Kengo Kimura, Kuniaki Kobayashi, and Michiyoshi Ohara Match Thoughts: I am not a big fan of matches like these, which is well documented, as there is literally no flow or structure to the match whatsoever. Whether a wrestler does a small move or a big move their opponent usually tags right out and Nagata was finished off without any of his (perfectly healthy) team mates making much of an effort to save him. This match was a bit better then others like it due to the emotion shown by Koshinaka and Kojima, but overall it wasn't my idea of a good opener. I like Kabuki so it was nice seeing him again, but ten people in a non-elimination match is just too many. Score: 3.5 Masashi Aoyagi and Akitoshi Saito vs. J-J-JACKS Aoyagi kicks Nogami while he is against the ropes and forearms him in the back of the head. Nogami fires up and the two trade strikes, after a moment Nogami catches an Aoyagi kick and elbows Aoyagi in the leg. This gives Nogami time to tag in Iizuka and Iizuka applies an ankle lock to Aoyagi. Saito breaks it up, but Iizuka drags Aoyagi farther away and applies a leg lock. Eventually Aoyagi makes it to the ropes, kicks to the leg by Iizuka and he re-applies the ankle lock. Iizuka tags in Nogami and both men apply ankle locks to Aoyagi as the referee unfairly keeps Saito out of the ring. Finally he breaks it up with Nogami switching the hold to a single leg crab hold until Saito breaks it up with three kicks to the chest. Aoyagi is up first and kicks Nogami back, allowing him time to tag in Saito. Stomp to the chest by Saito and he kicks Nogami but Nogami tackles him and goes for a submission hold. Saito gets to the ropes before Nogami can get one applied, waistlock by Nogami but Saito gets out of it and drives him back into the corner. Nogami tags in Iizuka, but Saito punches and knees him as he comes into the ring. Irish whip by Saito and he hits a spinning heel kick. Cover, but it gets a two count. Aoyagi comes in the ring and while Saito holds Iizuka up Aoyagi delivers a spinning heel kick. Cover by Saito but it gets a two count. Irish whip by Saito but Iizuka blocks the spinning heel kick with a knee. Ankle lock by Iizuka but Aoyagi breaks it up. Saito picks up Iizuka and kicks him in the chest, he goes for a backdrop suplex but Nogami comes off the top turnbuckle with a double ax handle to break it up. Uranage by Iizuka and he makes the tag to his partner. Nogami goes to the top turnbuckle and connects with the Musasabi Press, cover, but Saito kicks out. Saito goes for a kick but Nogami blocks it and nails the German suplex hold for the three count pinfall! Your winners: J-J-JACKS Match Thoughts: What this match lacked in some areas it made up with the amount of emotion they showed. I have no idea what the back story is to this match, or even if there was one, but both teams were taking cheap shots and acting like they hated the other team and they were able to draw me in even though I didn't know the reason for the hate. There were an awful lot of kicks, which can get old, and the good work on Aoyagi's leg didn't end up being sold long term or have an effect on the match, but I still enjoyed it. Taking out the leg made sense since Aoyagi kept on kicking them and both teams worked together well. A perfectly acceptable undercard match and it exceeded my expectations in terms of the general presentation. Score: 6.0 Black Cat vs. Brutus Beefcake Match Thoughts: This was pretty brutal and Beefcake can't use the "language barrier" excuse like he could have in his other puroresu matches. I don't remember Beefcake ever throwing so many elbows in any of his other matches, but apparently that was all he was up for here. I would think that Beefcake would be offended by the fact the crowd couldn't have cared less, but I guess he is pretty used to it by now as his early WWF run seems to be the only time that the crowd really responded his over-the-top style. This was rough all the way through but at least this time (versus the last Beefcake match in New Japan I reviewed) he picked up the win cleanly. Score: 3.0 Super Strong Machine vs. Tatsutoshi Goto Match Thoughts: Not unwatchable even though these are not two of my favorite wrestlers. The action was about what you'd expect but they threw in a few different spots to save it from being completely bland. The three count was certainly not a three count, but I don't know if it was done that way to protect Goto or if it was a mistake. Goto was pretty handily beaten here as he really didn't have any realistic near falls (even though he never did get a chance to hit his finisher). For where it was on the card it was fine, although nothing to get excited about. Score: 4.0 Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Tiger Mask Backbreaker by Tiger Mask, he goes up to the top turnbuckle and goes for a moonsault, Liger rolls out of the way but Tiger Mask lands on his feet. Koppou Kick by Liger, waistlock, reversed, but Liger elbows out of it and dropkicks Tiger Mask out of the ring. Baseball slide by Liger, he goes off the far ropes and does a fake dive, but Tiger Mask quickly rolls back in the ring and dropkicks Liger through the ropes. Tiger Mask now goes off the ropes and sails out onto Liger with a tope suicida. Tiger Mask rolls back in the ring as Liger slowly follows, scoop slam by Tiger Mask and he delivers a top rope rounding body press. Cover, but Tiger Mask picks up Liger before the three count. Tiger Mask goes for the Tiger Suplex but Liger gets out of it and connects with a lariat. Liger picks up Tiger Mask and nails a powerbomb, he picks Tiger Mask back up and puts him on the top turnbuckle. Liger joins him and hits a Frankensteiner, cover, but it gets a two count. Liger Bomb by Liger, cover, but again it gets a two count. He goes for another one, but Tiger Mask lands on top of Liger for a two count cover. Tiger Mask picks up Liger and puts him onto the top turnbuckle, Tiger Mask climbs up as well and dropkicks Liger out to the ramp. Tiger Mask then walks up the ramp and deliverers a cartwheel twisting body press. With Liger still on the ramp Tiger Mask goes up to the top turnbuckle, but he slips as he goes to jump and flops to the ramp without touching Liger. Tiger Mask is up first and goes back in the ring, after a moment he goes out to get Liger and slides him through the ropes. Top rope missile dropkick by Tiger Mask followed by a German suplex hold but it gets a two count. Tiger Mask picks up Liger, scoop slam, and he hits a second turnbuckle twisting senton. Tiger Mask goes up to the top turnbuckle but Liger avoids the tornillo. Backbreaker by Liger in front of the corner, he goes up to the top turnbuckle and nails the Shooting Star Press! Cover, and he picks up the three count. Your winner: Jushin Thunder Liger Match Thoughts: I don't know if this match was worse then the Liger/Tiger Mask match I reviewed from 1993, but I do know that Kanemoto didn't fit under the Tiger Mask gimmick at all. Liger and Kanemoto would have great matches post-1995 so I know they are able to, but the Tiger Mask spots seem forced and interrupt the flow of the match. The botch didn't help as obviously that was set up to be one of the big moments of the match and instead they had to just move on as if the move had happened even though it didn't. The match could have used five more minutes, as we went straight from mat work to Liger hitting all his finishers, causing him to dust off the Shooting Star Press to pick up the win. This would be the last time Liger would ever use the Shooting Star Press as far as I know and while it made the ending exciting it was also very sudden. Overall a disappointment, and even though the match wasn't bad it was not on the level that Liger's or Kanemoto's big matches are usually on. Score: 6.0 (c) Jurassic Powers vs. The Hellraisers Hawk tags in Sasaki but Norton hits him with a trio of lariats. Sasaki bounces back up however and goes for his own lariats, but Norton doesn't budge. The third one finally knocks him down but Norton hits a backdrop suplex. Irish whip by Norton and he delivers a powerslam, cover, but Hawk breaks it up. Norton tags in Hercules, Irish whip by Hercules but Sasaki kicks him and hits a scoop slam. Sasaki tags in Hawk, punches by Hawk but Hercules returns fire. Hercules dumps Hawk out of the ring and Norton assaults him on the outside. Norton slams Hawk into the ring post before sliding him back into the ring, Hercules tags in Norton and they ram Hawk into the corner. Backbreaker by Norton, cover, but it gets a two count. Reverse chinlock by Norton and he hits a neckbreaker. Cover, but it gets a two count. Norton tags in Hercules and he drops Hawk onto the top rope. Snapmare by Hercules and he applies a reverse chinlock to Hawk. Hawk struggles to his feet and breaks free, but Hercules floors him with a lariat and tags in Norton. Forearm to the back by Norton, Hawk fights back but Norton regains the advantage and tags in Hercules. Hercules goes up to the second rope and elbows Hawk in the back. More elbows to the back by Hercules and he applies a bear hug, Hawk tries to get out of it but Hercules tags in Norton. Double Irish whip to Hawk and they hit a double shoulder tackle. Norton applies a bear hug to Hawk before ramming him into the corner and tagging Hercules back in. Scoop slam by Hercules, he goes to the second turnbuckle but Hawk avoids the splash. Hawk goes off the ropes and hits a big boot, Irish whip, reversed, but Hawk connects with the jumping shoulder block. Hawk goes out to the ramp, gets a running start on the rampway and sails over the top rope with a shoulder block on Hercules. Hawk goes up to the top turnbuckle and hits a double lariat on Hercules and Norton before tagging in Sasaki. Sasaki hits a powerslam on Hercules, Hercules tries to escape but Sasaki hits the ipponzei and picks up the three count! Your winners and new champions: The Hellraisers Match Thoughts: This match had so much potential. These wrestlers have a style that you either love or hate, and personally I love it. Big steroided men beating each other with stiff shots that aren't sold is what wrestling is all about. The match started and ended well, but the middle portion dragged as Hercules was a step or two behind everyone else and the beatdown on Hawk wasn't very convincing. I did enjoy that there was no hot tag, as Hawk went back on offense and had Hercules laying dead on the mat before he bothered tagging in Sasaki. A decent match, but if they had stuck to the stiffness then I would have liked it more for that is what Norton and Hawk in particular do best. Score: 5.5 The Steiner Brothers vs. Keiji Mutoh and Hiroshi Hase Snapmare again and Mutoh goes for the arm of Rick, but Rick slams Mutoh to get out of the hold. Mutoh quickly tags in Hase and Hase delivers a uranage. Hase goes up to the top turnbuckle but Scott grabs him from the outside and Rick hits a belly to belly suplex off the top turnbuckle. Rick tags in Scott, Irish whip by Scott and he hits a lariat. Mutoh comes in the ring but he eats a lariat as well, Irish whip by Scott and he hits the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for a two count cover. Scott picks up Hase and absolutely KILLS him with the Steiner Screwdriver before posing in the corner as the crowd goes nuts. Mutoh tries to help but Rick hits a belly to belly suplex off the top turnbuckle on him. Scott drags Hase to his feet and hits a lariat, but Hase doesn't go down. A second one doesn't work either, he goes for a third but Hase catches him with an uranage. A second uranage by Hase, cover, but it gets a two count. Hase tags in Mutoh, Irish whip by Mutoh and he hits a back bodydrop. Mutoh picks up Scott, Irish whip, and he delivers a dropkick. Mutoh tags in Hase, chop by Hase and he picks up Scott so that Mutoh can hit a face crusher off the top turnbuckle. Mutoh dropkicks Rick out of the ring and sails out onto him with a pescado, while Hase hits a German suplex hold in the ring on Scott for a two count. Chops by Hase and he hits the Northern Lights Suplex, but Rick breaks it up. Hase picks up Scott and tags in Mutoh, Mutoh throws Scott into the corner, Irish whip, and he hits the cartwheel elbow strike followed by the face crusher. Mutoh goes for the dragon suplex but Rick breaks it up, backbreaker by Mutoh on Scott and he nails the moonsault! Cover, but Scott barely kicks out in time. Kicks by Mutoh, he goes off the ropes but Scott hits a Frankensteiner! Mutoh tags in Hase but Scott also makes the tag, and Hase is met with a lariat from Rick. Irish whip by Rick and he hits a press slam followed by an elbow drop. Cover, but it gets a two count. Rick picks up Hase, Irish whip, and he delivers a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Rick puts Hase onto his shoulders while Scott goes up to the top turnbuckle and they nail a union avalanche-style DDT. Double Irish whip to Mutoh as he gets into the ring to help Hase and they hit a double shoulderblock. Scott puts Hase on his shoulders as Rick goes to the top turnbuckle and they hit the union top rope bulldog. Cover, and Scott picks up the three count! Your winners: The Steiner Brothers Match Thoughts: The crowd really woke up for this match, which says a lot for all the combatants as they had been pretty mild up to this point. The selling was extremely suspect and the transitions were really poor at times, but I still enjoyed the match. All four of these wrestlers are just so good at what they do and the crowd was really into the action. The Steiner Screwdriver looked great and got a loud reaction, and the wrestling in general was very crisp. As I mentioned the transitions were not very good (such as Scott hitting a dragon suplex out of no where and Hase rebounding from the Steiner Screwdriver very easily), and while things like that will keep a match from being a classic it doesn't really make them not entertaining. A pretty fun match all-around. Score: 7.0 Hulk Hogan vs. Tatsumi Fujinami Match Thoughts: It has been said before (by both myself and dozens of other people) that watching Hogan wrestle in Japan is almost surreal, and this match was no different. Seeing Hogan in a match that is 80% mat wrestling is weird, and while he looked a little stiff at it he showed that he does have some knowledge of technical wrestling. I actually liked the match, they played up well that Hogan was stronger then Fujinami but that Fujinami was faster. The Axe Bomber was built up to be the big match-ending move with Fujinami avoiding it several times before he was finally caught with two to cause him to lose the match. On one hand it seems like he was defeated a little too easily but considering that Hogan's Axe Bomber is very respected in Japan it didn't come across poorly when watching it. Not a great match by any means as the mat wrestling was a little awkward at times, but it was still fun to see Hogan out of his normal element. Score: 6.0 Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara Match Thoughts: Before typing up this match I cut my finger pretty bad while opening a box of saran wrap (don't ask), making typing very painful (I am a warrior!). I thought that would be my most painful experience of the day until I watched this match. I simply can not get into old timers wrestling some ancient formula in modern times... for example, Choshu hits three lariats, Fujiwara is unphased and goes for his finisher, but one more knocks him out enough for the pin? It was the first time he had hurt Fujiwara the entire match. And why was Fujiwara going for the leg for the first half if he was going to attack the arm the second half? It was slow and uneventful with a sudden ending, and there was really no build or suspense whatsoever. I know some people love this stuff, and that is fine, but it isn't my thing. Score: 3.0 (c) Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masahiro Chono Back up, kicks to the chest by Hashimoto but Chono comes back with a Yakuza Kick. High kick to the chest by Hashimoto, he waits for Chono to get up and he kicks him in the chest some more. Cover, but Chono easily kicks out. Reverse chinlock by Hashimoto but Chono gets a foot on the bottom rope. Back up, knee to the stomach by Chono but Hashimoto hits a quick lariat for a two count. A keylock is applied by Hashimoto into a standing armbar but after a moment he releases the hold. Backdrop suplex by Hashimoto, cover, but it gets a two count. Kick to the back by Hashimoto and he hits a belly to belly suplex for another two count. Hashimoto goes for a DDT but Chono knees him in the stomach to block the move. Hashimoto picks up Chono and hits a German suplex hold but it only gets a two count. Back up, Hashimoto grabs Chono and hits a front suplex followed by an elbow drop for another two count fall. Hashimoto goes back to the arm but Chono reverses it into a leg lock. Hashimoto makes it to the ropes after a moment and begins kicking Chono hard in the chest. Hashimoto goes for the brainbuster but Chono goes behind his back and hits a backdrop suplex. Chono goes up to the top turnbuckle but Hashimoto joins him. Chono punches Hashimoto back off and hits a diving shoulderblock, he waits for Hashimoto to get to his knees and kicks him in the face. Another kick to the head by Chono, cover, but it gets a two count. Irish whip by Chono and he delivers a Samoan Drop. Cover, but again it gets a two. Chono applies a single leg crab hold and reverts it into the STF. Hashimoto slowly craws to the ropes but before he can make it Chono applies a sleeper hold. Chono lets Hashimoto go after a moment, he goes off the ropes and hits a Yakuza Kick. Running forearm by Chono but Hashimoto is still only on one knee. Chono goes off the ropes but Hashimoto catches him with a judo throw. Hashimoto goes for a DDT but Chono kicks him low and applies a rolling leg submission hold. After a moment Chono releases the hold and goes back to the STF. Again he releases the hold, he goes off the ropes and hits a Yakuza Kick, but when he goes off the ropes again Hashimoto connects with a dropkick. Leg sweep by Hashimoto and he applies an achilles heel hold. Steamroller by Hashimoto, cover, but it gets a two count. Hashimoto picks up Chono but Chono sneaks in a small package for a two count. Hashimoto is up first and goes for the brainbuster, but Chono backs up into the corner. Hashimoto puts Chono up onto the turnbuckle and hits a superplex, cover, but it gets a two count. Front facelock by Hashimoto but Chono fights him off and hits a jumping kick. Hashimoto comes back with a high kick of his own, he then goes off the ropes and hits a spinning heel kick. Front chancery by Hashimoto and he hits a series of knees to the stomach of Chono. Brainbuster by Hashimoto, cover, but it gets a two count. Hashimoto picks up Chono and nails the jumping DDT, cover, and he picks up the three count! Your winner and still champion: Shinya Hashimoto Match Thoughts: I wanted to love this match but in the end I just couldn't... there were too many small things that irked me. One of my pet peeves is wrestlers that release their finishing moves for really no reason, which Chono did on a few occasions. I would think once he had the STF applied in the middle of the ring he'd just keep it on until his opponent reaches the ropes or passes out. The biggest problem in the match was that I never felt that Chono had a chance. Like I said, his submissions obviously had no impact and he didn't have any realistic near falls. Chono seemed to just be hanging on for the ride trying to avoid Hashimoto's big moves, and then once Hashimoto hit his big moves the match was over. There were still positives however... the emotion was certainly there and they had the crowd sucked in. There really weren't any obvious botches or miscommunications at all and the mat work didn't come across as excessive even though there was a lot of it. Overall it was a good match, I was just hoping for a classic from two of the better New Japan wrestlers of the 90s wrestling at the big Tokyo Dome show. Score: 7.0 Genichiro Tenryu vs. Antonio Inoki Match Thoughts: This was significant on a few levels. First, this would be the last time that Antonio Inoki was ever pinned. Also, this made Tenryu the first (and only) Japanese wrestler to ever pin both Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba. How is that for some random trivia? I should also point out that I have no idea how a Freelancer got the honor of pinning Antonio Inoki (who rarely lost in singles matches) at the Tokyo Dome, even if that Freelancer happened to be Tenryu. Anyway, I actually liked the story of the match even if some of the execution was questionable. Tenryu being out cold for four minutes but the referee not letting Inoki touch him since it was an illegal move that knocked him out was really great as the crowd was loving it and it added a level of suspense that you don't normally see in matches. Inoki cheating showed how much he felt he needed this win but he simply was over powered by the WAR founder. A lot of the moves looked weak (except for Inoki's punches) but I'll give them a little leeway since they are not exactly young pups. The ending was sudden as well (it really caught the crowd by surprise) but not because the powerbomb isn't Tenryu's finisher but rather because Inoki had been in control much of the match and Tenryu just took over and planted him for the victory. A solid way to end the show as the crowd loved it and it had that special something that New Japan has been lacking in recent years. Score: 7.5 Final Thoughts: Highly Recommended
review completed on 6/21/07 |
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