-1hr 55min. Q=Master
WELCOME TO BATTLE FIELD: The Great Kabuki & Kuniaki Kobayashi & Akitoshi Saito vs. Osamu Kido & Akira Nogami & Takayuki Iizuka
THE GOLD RUSH: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Manabu Nakanishi
UWA World Junior Heavyweight Title: Shinjiro Otani vs. El Samurai
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Norio Honaga vs. The Great Sasuke (Michinoku Pro)
SUPERHARD SYNDROME: Masa Chono & Sabu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Junji Hirata
IWGP Heavyweight Title: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kensuke Sasaki
THE GOLD RUSH: Koji Kanemoto vs. Yuji Nagata
THE SAMURAI SPIRIT: Shiro Koshinaka & Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & Tiger Jeet Singh Jr.
THE STRONGEST: Hawk Warrior vs. Scott Norton
Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Kengo Kimura & Tatsutoshi Goto
IWGP Tag Titles: Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase vs. Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner
FINAL COUNTDOWN BVD Tournament 1st Round: Sting vs. Tony Palmore
FINAL COUNTDOWN BVD Tournament 1st Round: Antonio Inoki vs. Gerard Gordeau
FINAL COUNTDOWN BVD Tournament Final: Sting vs. Antonio Inoki
#704 1/4/95 Tokyo Dome
El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani
Yuji Nagata vs. Koji Kanemoto
Manabu Nakanishi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
#705 1/4/95 Tokyo Dome
The Great Sasuke vs. Norio Honaga
Shiro Koshinaka & Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & Tiger Ali Singh
Road Warrior Hawk vs. Scott Norton
#706 1/4/95 Tokyo Dome
Tatsumi Fujinami & Junji Hirata vs. Masahiro Chono & Sabu
Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase vs. Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner
#707 1/4/95 Tokyo Dome
Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Kengo Kimura & Tatsutoshi Goto
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kensuke Sasaki
#708 1/4/95 Tokyo Dome
FINAL COUNTDOWN BVD Tournament 1st Round: Sting vs. Tony Palmore
FINAL COUNTDOWN BVD Tournament 1st Round: Antonio Inoki vs. Gerard Gordeau
FINAL COUNTDOWN BVD Tournament Final: Sting vs. Antonio Inoki
#709 1/19/95 Hisage
Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Gedo
Kengo Kimura vs. Kodo Fuyuki
Shiro Koshinaka & Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Masahiro Chono & Sabu
#710 1/30/95 Toda City Sports Center
Koji Kanemoto vs. Dean Malenko
Riki Choshu & Junji Hirata vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiro Saito
Keiji Muto & Tadao Yasuda vs. Scott Norton & Mike Enos
#711 1/30/95 Toda City Sports Center
Yuji Nagata vs. Yutaka Yoshie
Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
2/3/95 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Gran Hamada & Koji Kanemoto vs. El Samurai & Shinjiro Otani
#712 2/3/95 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Norio Honaga vs. Dean Malenko
Kensuke Sasaki & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Mike Enos
#713 2/3/95 2/3/95 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Junji Hirata & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiro Saito
IWGP Heavyweight Title Next Challenger Decision Match: Keiji Muto vs. Scott Norton
#714 2/4/95 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Yuji Nagata & Tadao Yasuda vs. El Gigante
Keiji Muto vs. Ron Simmons
Kensuke Sasaki & Koji Kanemoto vs. Hiroshi Hase & Shinjiro Otani
Riki Choshu & Junji Hirata vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiro Saito
#715 2/4/95 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner vs. Scott Norton & Mike Enos
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan 17:02
Note: Matches without times listed are digested
2/3/95 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Shinjiro Otani & El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto & Gran Hamada 14:12
Masahiro Chono & Hiro Saito vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Junji Hirata
IWGP Heavyweight Title Next Challenger Decision Match: Keiji Muto vs. Scott Norton 20:31
2/4/95 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Kensuke Sasaki & Koji Kanemoto vs. Shinjiro Otani & Hiroshi Hase
Riki Choshu & Junji Hirata vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiro Saito
Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner vs. Scott Norton & Mike Enos
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan 17:02
2/19/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Kantaro Hoshino Retirement Match: Osamu Kido vs. Kantaro Hoshino 10:00
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Koji Kanemoto vs. Norio Honaga
UWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Shinjiro Otani vs. Gran Hamada
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Scott Norton 15:35
11/25/94, IWGP Tag Title Match: Hellraisers (Hawk Warrior & Power Warrior) vs. Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase
12/6/94, Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Keiji Muto
12/12/94, New Japan Strongest Tag Decision Match: Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase vs. Steiners (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner)
11/23/94: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Osamu Kido
2/8/95
Kensuke Sasaki & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Takashi Iizuka & Manabu Nakanishi
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Scott Norton
Great Muta vs. El Gigante
#716 2/12/95 Korakuen Hall
Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Shiro Koshinaka & The Great Kabuki & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Masa Saito & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Junji Hirata
Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito
#717 2/17/95 Hamamatsu City Gym
2/12/95 Korakuen Hall: Kensuke Sasaki vs. Scott Norton
El Samurai & Shinjiro Otani vs. Gran Hamada & Koji Kanemoto
Riki Choshu & Junji Hirata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Scott Norton & Mike Enos & Scorpio
#718 2/17/95 Hamamatsu City Gym
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Ron Simmons
Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
2/19/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Yuji Nagata & Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs. Joe Malenko & Dean Malenko
#719 2/19/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Kantaro Hoshino Retirement: Kantaro Hoshino vs. Osamu Kido
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Koji Kanemoto vs. Norio Honaga
UWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Shinjiro Otani vs. Gran Hamada
#720 2/19/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Riki Choshu & Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Scott Norton 15:35
#721 3/7/95 Ishikawa Industrial Exhibition Hall #1
Young Lion Cup: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Tokimitsu Ishizawa
Takayuki Iizuka & Tadao Yasuda vs. Brian Knobs & Jerry Saggs
Junji Hirata vs. Hiro Saito
Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Michiyoshi Ohara
2/3 Falls: Shiro Koshinaka & The Great Kabuki & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Masa Saito & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Junji Hirata
Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito vs. Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata
3/11/95 taped 2/17/95
Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Shinjiro Otani & El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto & Gran Hamada 6:05 of 12:44. Typical short junior match of the time period that was fine early then got really impressive and spectacular in the final minutes with great chemistry and excellent offense. I thought they'd do more to set up the junior title matches on 2/19, but it was mostly just strong work with the main heat was on Otani vs. Kanemoto (which was coming down the road) rather than the immediate opponent Hamada. *** range
taped 2/19/95
UWA World Junior Heavyweight Title: Shinjiro Otani vs. Gran Hamada 4:24 of 13:27. Nice match, but very underwhelming by the standards of NJ's junior titles. Both the chemistry and the offense were nowhere's near the Otani's work with Liger, Kanemoto, Samurai and neither wrestler really stepped up to carry the match or give it some shape and direction. Hamada was fine, but is much more effective as a short bursts tag wrestler than trying to do even a shorter length singles match.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Norio Honaga vs. Koji Kanemoto 10:43. Effective Honaga match. Heated early with Honaga determined not to allow Kanemoto to out punk him. They quickly settled into the body with Honaga working Kanemoto's left knee. The problem is they then transitioned right to the finishing sequence. Honaga actually pulled out an avalanche style Frankensteiner, but went down remarkably quickly and easily. I prefer the belt on Kanemoto obviously, but I didn't really buy the way they put the title on him. **1/4
Note: All bouts listed below are IWGP Heavyweight Title Matches. Some other clips tossed in, but everything seems to be digested
12/10/93: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Keiji Muto 28:57
12/13/93: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Power Warrior 25:17
1/4/94: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masahiro Chono 28:00
3/21/94: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Scott Norton 18:55
4/4/94: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Keiji Muto 14:53
6/15/94: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Riki Choshu 10:52
9/23/94: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Power Warrior 19:08
12/13/94: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Hiroshi Hase 29:11
2/4/95: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan 17:02
2/19/95: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Scott Norton 15:35
Wonderland #696 taped 10/30/94 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Norio Honaga vs. Shinjiro Otani
Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner vs. Scott Norton & Ron Simmons
Wonderland #722 taped 3/7/95 Kanazawa Ishikawa Sangyo Tenjikan
Wild Pegasus & Shinjiro Otani vs. Black Tiger & Koji Kanemoto 14:20. Good rivalries where with Pegasus vs. Tiger and Otani vs. Kanemoto adding to the heat. Smooth match with crisp execution. The little things were so well done that you didn't care when they went to the big moves. In the end though, it was somewhat disappointing because it didn't deliver like I expected once it did pick up. It seemed like the big minutes were just starting, but instead the match ended. At 20 minutes this would have been great or at least damn close, but without those last 5 1/2 minutes it was very good and something of a let down. My favorite spot saw Koji being a punk stepping on Pegasus's throat, so Otani gave him his swandive missile kick to the back. Otani really had a lot of attitude here. ***3/4
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Matthew Rambo 10:04. As bad as a Hashimoto match from this period could be. Rambo - with his 80's WWF offense and the cartoon selling that goes with it - showed no signs of ability. Basic boring match taken down by communication problems between the two. *
3/13 Kyoto Furitsu Taiikukan 6th Young Lion Hai Koshikisen: Shinjiro Otani vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa 12:31. Takaiwa took Otani down to his level with the basic offense more than Otani was able to raise Takaiwa up. Too much unimpressive meandering wear down and submission before the few good minutes at the end. **
Wonderland #723 taped 3/13/95 Kyoto Furitsu Taiikukaikan
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Koji Kanemoto vs. Wild Pegasus 16;41. New star Kanemoto is the champion, but still the underdog against the junior division’s long time top gaijin Pegasus, currently the division's ace with Liger on the shelf. He’s a little overmatched, trying to use his quickness and athleticism to counteract Benoit's power, but getting blasted after a move or two. The match is very back and forth, and Kanemoto manages to stay with the Wild one, though Pegasus keeps getting the last word, and thus Kanemoto is the one who is increasingly making you believe he’s in trouble. The excellent work is no surprise, but Kanemoto backing the story with one of his best selling jobs to date leads to a better than expected match, though they’d certainly top it with their great 9/25/95 rematch. This is one of Benoit's best performances, perhaps not in terms of his actual wrestling, but certainly the manner in which he guides Kanemoto, who is very inexperienced at the top level, through the match, always cutting him off before he can get out of control. The match built consistently, but there were no fireworks from Kanemoto, as he’s unable to sustain an advantage. I'm not sure whether Pegasus gets more offense, but certainly he has the quality, the meaningful offense that ends the rally, stopping Kanemoto's athletic moves by hammering him with a lariat or ending a flurry of kicks by Dragon screwing him. Though it may sound like the match is set up to serve Pegasus, his offense is also setting Kanemoto up to counter into one of his numerous brief comebacks. The opening portion was built out of the test of strength with leverage, balance, and athleticism counteracting one another, and they continued doing a nice job of using one hold to set up the next. Though there were numerous quality moves, this was still a fairly patient match with Pegasus letting Kanemoto do his offense, but never for too long at a stretch, thus keeping him in check. As the crowd is pulling for Kanemoto, this layout also helps add to the drama, which is pretty high. Though nothing points to Kanemoto being victorious, his belief in himself never wavers, and thus the crowd stays with him. Kanemoto just keeps thinking of ways to get a move or two in, and finally is able to grasp victory from the cusp of defeat, countering Pegasus’ mighty top rope powerbomb with a (sort of) super Frankensteiner (his legs hook Benoit's upper body rather than neck). This victory really validated new champion Kanemoto as Pegasus was the obvious champ, but they again passed him over (he also lost to the man Kanemoto won the title from, Norio Honaga, in the finals of the vacant Jr. Title tournament on 9/27/94), creating new stars in Liger's absence rather than biding time with the veterans ****
Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata & Hiroshi Hase vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito & Sabu
Wonderland #724 taped 3/13/95 Kyoto Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Matthew Rambo
3/19/95 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
6th Young Lion Hai Koshikisen: Yuji Nagata vs. Tokimitsu Ishizawa
Koji Kanemoto vs. Shinjiro Otani
#722 taped 3/7/95 Kanazawa Ishikawa Sangyo Tenjikan
Wild Pegasus & Shinjiro Otani vs. Black Tiger & Koji Kanemoto 14:20. ***3/4
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Matthew Rambo 10:04
3/13/95 Kyoto Furitsu Taiikukan 6th Young Lion Hai Koshikisen: Shinjiro Otani vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa 12:31
#723 taped 3/13/95 Kyoto Furitsu Taiikukaikan
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Koji Kanemoto vs. Wild Pegasus 16:41. ****
Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata & Hiroshi Hase vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito & Sabu
#724 taped 3/19/95 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
3/13/95 Kyoto Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Kensuke Sasaki vs. Rambo
Young Lion Cup: Yuji Nagata vs. Tokimitsu Ishizawa
Koji Kanemoto vs. Shinjiro Otani
#725 taped 3/19/95 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito
Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
#726 taped 3/27/95 Tokyo Metropolitan Gym
3/19/95 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Hiroshi Hase & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Road Warrior Hawk & Power Warrior
Riki Choshu & Tadao Yasuda vs. Hiroshi Hase & Takayuki Iizuka
Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito
#727 taped 3/27/95 Tokyo Metropolitan Gym
Young Lion Cup 1995 Final: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Yuji Nagata
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Masahiro Chono
#728 taped 4/13/95 Nagaoka City Kosei Kaikan
Koji Kanemoto & Gran Hamada vs. Shinjiro Otani & Wild Pegasus
Riki Choshu & Hiroshi Hase vs. Scott Norton & Flying Scorpio
Kensuke Sasaki & Junji Hirata vs. Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner
#729 taped 4/13/95 Nagaoka City Kosei Kaikan
Takayuki Iizuka Johnny B. Badd
Manabu Nakanishi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Shinya Hashimoto & Yuji Nagata vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiro Saito
4/16/95 Hiroshima Sun Plaza: Riki Choshu & Tadao Yasuda vs. Scott Norton & Manabu Nakanishi
Wonderland #730 taped 4/16/95 Hiroshima Sun Plaza
IWGP Junior Heavykyu & UWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Unification Match: Koji Kanemoto (IWGP champ) vs. Shinjiro Otani (UWA champ) 18:05. Both were coming into their own, but neither were prepared to do it on their own. While a nice match between the new stars that showed their growth, it wasn't near the level of what they were able to do with veterans Liger, Pegasus, & Samurai around this period. The partners stood toe to toe and stared each other down upon entering the ring then Kanemoto chest bumped Otani when they announced him. The first half was more UWF oriented with Kanemoto instilling his attitude, while the second half was spectacular. Both halves were good in and of themselves, but unfortunately had nothing to do with each other. They did a lot of parity spots, and were more or less equal until the end. It was supposed to be the Tiger suplex master (Kanemoto) against the Dragon suplex master (Otani), but in the sort of goofiness these two would become known for, they decided to have Kanemoto pin Otani in his own specialty. ***1/2
Kensuke Sasaki & Hiroshi Hase vs. Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner
Wonderland #731 taped 4/16/95 Hiroshima Sun Plaza
Keiji Muto vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
IWGP Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Lord Steven Regal
#732 taped 4/23/95 Okinawa Convention Center
Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Steven Regal & Scorpio
Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani vs. Gran Hamada & El Samurai
Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner vs. Scott Norton & Wild Pegasus
#733
4/23/95: Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiro Saito
4/29/95 Rungnado May Day Stadium: Antonio Inoki vs. Ric Flair
4/28/95
undercard digested
Yuji Nagata vs. Tokimitsu Ishizawa 4:28
Akira Hokuto & Bull Nakano vs. Manami Toyota & Mariko Yoshida 8:34
Hiroshi Hase vs. Wild Pegasus 10:10
Hiro Saito & Masahiro Chono vs. El Samurai & Tadao Yasuda 8:06
Flying Scorpio vs. Shinjiro Otani 2:37
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Masa Saito 8:34
Scott Norton vs. Shinya Hashimoto 20:00
4/29/95
Hiro Saito vs. Yuji Nagata 5:29
Akira Hokuto vs. Bull Nakano 8:04
Black Cat vs. El Samurai 4:58
Wild Pegasus vs. Flying Scorpio 6:02
Masahiro Chono & Scott Norton vs. Akira Nogami & Takayuki Iizuka 8:40
Hawk Warrior vs. Tadao Yasuda 2:21
Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki 11:51
Antonio Inoki vs. Ric Flair 14:52
Disc 1
4/27/90 Tokyo Bay NK Hall, IWGP Tag Title Match: Masa Saito & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono. Complete
5/28/90 Musashi: Riki Choshu vs. Shinya Hashimoto. Complete.
6/8/90 Nippon Budokan: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa
1/15/91 Korakuen Hall: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue. Complete
4/18/91 Nippon Budokan Triple Crown Heavyweight Title: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa
7/24/91 Ishikawa Industry Exhibition Hall World Tag Title Match: Terry Gody & Steve Williams vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada
8/11/91 Ryogoku Kokugikan G1 Climax B Block Playoff: Shinya Hashimotovs Masahiro Chono
Disc 2
8/11/91 Ryogoku Kokugikan G1 Climax Title Match: Keiji Muto vs. Masahiro Chono
3/1/92 Yokohama IWGP Tag Team Title Match: Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase vs. Big Van Vader & Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow
3/20/92 Korakuen Hall 92 Champion Carnival B Block: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi
3/31/92 Toyama City Gym 92 Champion Carnival B Block League Match: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue
8/22/92 Nippon Budokan Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Match: Stan Hansen vs. Mitsuharu Misawa
10/21/92 Hamamatsu Arena SG Tag League Match: Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Manabu Nakanishi
10/21/92 Hamamatsu Arena SG Tag League Final: Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki
10/21/92 Nippon Budokan Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Match: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Complete
Disc 3
5/3/93 Fukuoka Dome: Masahiro Chono & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Hawk Warrior & Power Warrior. Complete
5/3/93 Fukuoka Dome: Great Muta vs. Hulk Hogan
5/20/93 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center World Tag Title Match: Terry Gody & Steve Williams vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue
5/21/93 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center Special Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Terry Gody
6/1/93 Nippon Budokan World Tag Title Match: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi
4/16/94 Nippon Budokan 94 Champion Carnival Final: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Steve Williams
5/21/94 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center World Tag Title Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada
Disc 4
9/19/94 Ishikawa Prefectural Industrial Exhibition Hall Masahiro Chono vs. Hiroshi Hase
4/16/95 Hiroshima Sun Plaza: Keiji Muto vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Complete
5/3/95 Fukuoka Dome IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Keiji Muto Complete
6/9/95 Nippon Budokan World Tag Title Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue. Complete
Disc 5
10/9/95 Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Keiji Muto vs. Nobuhiko Takada. Complete
10/25/95 Nippon Budokan: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Gary Albright. Complete
12/9/95 Nippon Budokan '95 World's Strongest Tag Decision League: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue
4/29/96 Tokyo Dome Great Muta vs. Jinsei Shinzaki Complete
Disc 6
4/29/96 Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shinya Hashimoto Complete
5/24/96 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Match: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue
7/17/96 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center: Riki Choshu & Keiji Muto & Satoshi Kojima vs. Hawk Warrior & Animal Warrior & Power Warrior Complete
7/17/96 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center IWGP Heavyweight Title: Shinya Hashimotovs Ric Flair. Complete
7/24/96 Budokan Triple Crown Heavyweight Title: Akira Taue vs. Kenta Kobashi Complete
10/18/96 Nippon Budokan Triple Crown Heavyweight Title: Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada
Disc 7
1/20/97 Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa
4/19/97 Nippon Budokan '97 Champion Carnival Final 1st Match: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi
4/19/97 Nippon Budokan 97 Champion Carnival Final 2nd Match: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Complete
4/19/97 Nippon Budokan 97 Champion Carnival Final 3rd Match: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi
9/23/97 Nippon Budokan: Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Great Muta & Masahiro Chono
10/19/97 Kobe World Memorial Hall IWGP Tag Title Match: Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono
Disc 8
10/21/97 Nippon Budokan Toshiaki Kawada vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
10/21/97 Nippon Budokan Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Match: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi
4/4/98 Tokyo Dome IWGP Tag Title Match: Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Osamu Nishimura
5/1/98 Tokyo Dome Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Match: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Complete
10/11/98 Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium World Tag Title Match: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama
10/31/98 Nippon Budokan Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa
Disc 9
1/13/01 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Alexander Otsuka. Complete
10/8/01 Tokyo Dome: Yuji Nagata & Jun Akiyama vs. Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase
5/2/02 Tokyo Dome: Masahiro Chono vs. Mitsuharu Misawa Complete
1/10/03 Nippon Budokan: Mitsuharu Misawa & Masahiro Chono vs. Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue. Complete
Disc 10
3/1/03 Nippon Budokan GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Mitsuru Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi
5/2/03 Tokyo Dome GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Masahiro Chono
7/10/04 Tokyo Dome GHC Tag Title Match: Mitsuru Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Keiji Muto & Taiyo Kea
10/9/04 Ryogoku Kokugikan: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Keiji Muto & Osamu Nishimura Complete
7/18/05 Tokyo Dome: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada
Disc 11
1/4/09 Tokyo Dome: Shinsuke Nakamura & Hiroki Goto vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Takashi Sugiura. Complete
9/27/09 Nippon Budokan: Akira Taue & Keiji Muto vs. Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama. Complete
10/3/09 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Go Shiozaki & Kenta Kobashi & Masahiro Chono vs. Takeshi Rikio & Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito
Disc 12
10/12/09 Ryogoku Kokugikan Masahiro Chono 25th Anniversary Commemorative Match: Masahiro Chono & Keiji Muto & Kenta Kobashi vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima & Jun Akiyama Complete
Special Dialogue: Three Musketeers x All Japan's Four Tenno
Junji Hirata vs. Hiro Saito 6:04
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Koji Kanemoto vs. Sabu 16:39
Ric Flair vs. Hiroshi Hase 22:52
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan 11:20
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Keiji Muto 21:13
Yuji Nagata vs. Manabu Nakanishi 13:29
El Samurai & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Akira Nogami & Norio Honaga 13:45
Wild Pegasus vs. Flying Scorpio 12:00
Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner vs. Hawk Warrior & Scott Norton 18:52
Shiro Koshinaka & Terry Funk vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki & Masahiro Chono 13:40
Antonio Inoki & Koji Kitao vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Riki Choshu 10:57
#734 taped 5/3/95 Fukuoka Dome
4/23/95 Okinawa Convention Center: Takayuki Iizuka vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Yuji Nagata vs. Manabu Nakanishi
Takayuki Iizuka & El Samurai vs. Akira Nogami & Norio Honaga
#735 taped 5/3/95 Fukuoka Dome
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Koji Kanemoto vs. Sabu
Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner vs Scott Norton & Road Warrior Hawk
#736 taped 5/3/95 Fukuoka Dome
Wild Pegasus vs. Flying Scorpio 12:00
Junji Hirata vs. Hiro Saito 6:04
Shiro Koshinaka & Terry Funk vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki & Masahiro Chono 13:40
#737 taped 5/3/95 Fukuoka Dome
Ric Flair vs. Hiroshi Hase 22:52
Antonio Inoki & Koji Kitao vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Riki Choshu 10:57
#738 taped 5/3/95 Fukuoka Dome
Kensuke Sasaki vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Shinya Hashimoto vs Keiji Muto
#739 taped 5/26/95 Korakuen Hall
Tadao Yasuda vs Black Cat
Gran Hamada & Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs Black Tiger & Dean Malenko
Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki & Junji Hirata vs Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito
WPW 6/10/95 Fighting Spirit Legend taped 5/26/95 Korakuen Hall
Mike Enos & Ron Simmons vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Shinya Hashimoto 13:54
6/4/95 Tottori Industrial Gym
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Masahiro Chono vs. Akira Nogami & Kensuke Sasaki 11:08
Keiji Muto vs. Arn Anderson 14:32
5/26/95: Keiji Muto vs. Steve Austin 19:04
6/24/95 taped 6/12/95 Osaka Prefectural Gym
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Sabu vs. Black Tiger 15:50
Koji Kanemoto vs. Gran Hamada
Keiji Muto vs. Kensuke Sasaki 20:24
#740 taped 5/26/95 Korakuen Hall
Yuji Nagata vs. Arn Anderson
Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Mike Enos & Ron Simmons
Keiji Muto vs. Steve Austin
Wonderland #741 taped 6/12/95 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Manabu Nakanishi vs. Mike Enos 9:14
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Sabu vs. Black Tiger 15:44
UWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Koji Kanemoto vs. Gran Hamada 13:07
Note: There's about 178 matches shown in total. Listed matches are the complete ones.
Disc 1
9/18/85: Keiji Muto vs. Tony St. Clair
Disc 2
11/3/86: Keiji Muto & Kengo Kimura vs. Antonio Inoki & Kerry Von Erich
11/9/87: Keiji Muto vs. Dick Murduch
Disc 3
6/30/90: Keiji Muto vs. Brad Rheigans
3/14/91: Keiji Muto vs. Mike Rotunda
5/17/92 IWGP Title: Keiji Muto vs. Riki Choshu
Disc 4
9/26/93: Keiji Muto vs. Hulk Hogan
1/4/95 IWGP Tag Title: Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase vs. Rick & Scott Steiner
5/26/95: Keiji Muto vs. Steve Austin
Disc 5
11/14/95: Keiji Muto & Sting vs. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson
9/23/96 Vale Tudo Rules: Keiji Muto vs. Pedro Otavario
5/3/99 IWGP Title: Keiji Muto vs. Genichiro Tenryu
Disc 6
6/8/01 Triple Crown Title: Keiji Muto vs. Genichiro Tenryu
Disc 7
10/28/01 IWGP & AJPW Tag Titles: Keiji Muto & Taiyo Kea vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Osamu Nishimura
10/31/04: Keiji Muto & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasake
Disc 9
12/5/05: Keiji Muto & Akebono vs. Dudley Boyz
Disc 10
4/27/08 IWGP Title: Keiji Muto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Wonderland #741 taped 6/12/95 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Manabu Nakanishi vs. Mike Enos 9:14. Enos was among NJPW’s most tolerable heavyweight gaijins of the mid 1990’s because he was unselfish and a hard worker. He did his best to work with his robotic no-charisma bore of an opponent, making it passable. It wasn’t pretty, but considering the lack of flexibility it was well executed. *1/2
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Sabu vs. Black Tiger 15:44. Liger breaking his ankle on 9/24/94 should have necessitated the much awaited second Wild Pegasus run as IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion, as none of the other veterans could carry the younger wrestlers the way he could. I don’t have a problem with their choice to give Koji Kanemoto his first reign because, even if he wasn’t quite ready, greatness was very clearly in his future. However, Benoit was the one who was really capable of bringing it out, as displayed by their excellent match on 3/13/95 and great one on 9/25/95. Instead, the transitional wrestlers to Kanemoto were Norio Honaga, a quality wrestler and good company man who was hardly the great a 3 time champion would imply, and Sabu, a US indie darling that wasn’t technically sound or proficient enough to even warrant consideration for the Best of the Super Junior tournament. These choices were simply making Koji look that much less ready, particularly Sabu, whose title win over Kanemoto on 5/3/95 is a top candidate for the worst IWGP Junior title change ever. Black Tiger would have been another good choice to hold the title. His great performance was enough to turn this into half a match, executing his offense that didn’t require much if anything from Sabu on a level Sabu could only imagine, and even doing a very good job in spite of Sabu on the stuff that required a decent amount of cooperate. This match really shows the difference between major and minor league wrestlers, as we can see that Sabu essentially works independently of his opponent. Either he’s on offense or they are, but there’s no real development, they just give or take, setting each other up for single moves but not really advancing beyond that into the realms of chaining holds or working back and forth counter laden sequences to get to the same point. This just wasn’t the junior heavyweight wrestling we have come to expect, and I don’t mean the tables and chairs, which like anything else can be a plus or a minus. I don’t mean that Sabu actually beat a fan up before the match, even if he was kind of asking for it by stealing Sabu’s turban as he was walking to the ring. Back and forth submission work is one of the elements that sets the New Japan juniors apart, but this matwork was an utter disgrace. Sabu actually had to take a rope break on a scorpion that wasn’t even turned over and his offensive contributions were a chinlock and front facelock! Sabu was so lacking in anything usable early on that they had to kill time, turning Sabu’s diving leg pick into a comedy spot where they’d try to distract each other to pull it off. In the end, all they could do was run around and hope Sabu didn’t miss his spots too badly. Sabu only debacled one spot beyond recognition, but it’s more that his offense isn’t performed to the level of credibility. For instance, he wins with his Arabian press, which is a really cool move except his knees so obviously took the entire impact of the moonsault it’s laughable that Guerrero was unable to kick out. **1/2
UWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Koji Kanemoto vs. Gran Hamada 13:07. Wily veteran Hamada was a good opponent for Kanemoto even if it made for a shorter match since he’s more of a tag specialist than someone who has the offense for a 20 minute singles war. That’s not a bad thing with Kanemoto, who is a bit of a spot merchant anyway. Koji really brought the offense in this one, not only adding spectacular moves but displaying eye opening athleticism, body control, and crispness in his execution. Hamada always does everything well, he wouldn’t improperly execute the cross armbar finisher the way Koji did, but he’s simply incapable of reaching the heights Kanemoto can when he’s on like he otherwise was. Hamada is a bit old school and lucha oriented in the submission portion, too content to grab an appendage, but the lucha background also provides the benefit of making his running sequences better than most. They largely did Hamada’s match with Kanemoto instilling his dickishness wherever applicable. He was in Hamada’s face before the match began, and wound up dropkicking him before the bell. Though there was some decent interplay, I thought they could have done more with the idea that, belt or not belt, Hamada wasn’t going to let the young punk get away with disrespecting him. Generally, the match was better than expected with the somewhat low rating being a product of finishing about 5 minutes before expected without kicking into the final gear. ***1/4
Wonderland #45
8/13/78 Mexico City Palacio de los Deportes, 2/3 Falls WWWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Rey Mendoza 8:59, 3:31, 5:22. It was weird seeing Fujinami doing moves such as the flying headscissors and enzuigiri. He worked a more Lucha oriented style, but ultimately it was more his match than Mendoza's. A good, highly technical match where both men did a good job of working in and out of the holds that was much more interesting to me than mid 90's and beyond Fujinami. They started out using a simple hold such as an armbar as the basis of a series, working some athleticism in through their counters. Fujinami took the first fall, but Mendoza’s persistent stretching began to break the champion down. Fujinami’s left leg was injured in the second, a hobbling title holder giving the crowd some real hope their boy could outlast him. Mendoza worked the injury, setting up his Mendoza special (kind of a standing figure 4 where he splits his legs and squats forward) to take the second fall. Mendoza continued his leg attack in the third, but they inexplicably scrapped the injury when Fujinami came back with his Dragon missile (tope). The action was quite good from this point forward, but the failure to transition from Mendoza’s legwork to Fujinami’s finishing sequence in a remotely believable manner was a glaring liability. Fujinami crashed the turnbuckle trying a jumping tackle when Mendoza reentered, but although Mendoza had dominated the last fall and a half, the suplex this set up was his final hope spot with Fujinami running around as though his leg were fine during the finishing segment. The moves were nothing special by today's standards, and I felt let them down during the fast-paced running segments though that’s more a product of the times than a specific liability of the particular wrestlers whose offense was certainly above average. More importantly, they got pretty good mileage out of the moves and the leg injury greatly added to the drama and fan interest before they dropped the ball in scrapping it. ***1/2
10/6/78 Niigata Shi Taiikukan: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Tony Rocco 13:02. This match aged pretty well because Rocco's offense was crisp and believable. Even if the moves themselves weren't that interesting, a side suplex was one of the big highlights from Rocco, he at least made me believe they did some damage. They played the leverage game early, but although Fujinami began hobbling after escaping the Romero special, they never really developed any sort of storyline or body. The hold and counter hold was solid, and the finish was energetic with several dropkicks from Fujinami, but the match didn't really build and wasn't very dramatic. ***
#742 taped 6/12/95 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaika
IWGP Tag Title Decision Match: Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Keiji Muto vs. Kensuke Sasaki
#743 taped 6/12/95 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaika
Shinjiro Otani & Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs Norio Honaga & Dean Malenko
Riki Choshu & Masa Saito vs. Steve Austin & Arn Anderson
6/14/95 Nippon Budokan
Osamu Kido vs. Tadao Yasuda
Junji Hirata & Takayuki Iizuka & Akira Nogami vs Steve Austin & Arn Anderson & Mike Enos
#744 taped 6/14/95 Nippon Budokan
Gran Hamada & Shinjiro Otani vs Black Tiger & Dean Malenko
Shinya Hashimoto vs Manabu Nakanishi
Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki vs Masahiro Chono & Hiro Saito
#745 taped 6/14/95 Nippon Budokan
IWGP Junior Heavyweight & UWA World Welterweight Title Match: Sabu vs. Koji Kanemoto
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Keiji Muto vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
WPW 7/1/95 Fighting Spirit Legend
6/14/95 Tokyo Nippon Budokan IWGP Junior Heavyweight & UWA World Welterweight Double Title: Koji Kanemoto [UWA] vs. Sabu [IWGP] 19:04
6/12/95 Osaka Prefectural Gym & IWGP Tag Title Decision Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Masahiro Chono vs. Junji Hirata & Shinya Hashimoto 17:44
WPW 7/8/95 Fighting Spirit Legend taped 6/14/95 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Kensuke Sasaki & Riki Choshu vs. Hiro Saito & Masahiro Chono 12:11
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Manabu Nakanishi 6:23
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Keiji Muto vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan 19:04
Vol. 28 '93 BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. II
6/13/95 Shizuoka: Norio Honaga & Sabu vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani. A little over 4 minutes shown with the main focus being Kanemoto & Otani not getting along like they do today as a way to heat up their upcoming singles.
6/23/95 Niigata Shi Taiikukan Super Jr. II League Bout: Shinjiro Otani vs. Koji Kanemoto 20:08 of 30:00. This was a lot better than their J Crown match from 97. The match didn't tell any kind of a story, but it wasn't goofy with illogical no sell spots and the like. The work was excellent as you'd expect, with crisp execution and good stiffness for juniors. The selling, mainly how much they put over the previous damage (although considering how long this was they couldn't exactly spring right back up), and comebacks was a lot stronger than I expected. They went at it hard for 30 minutes and still had a lot left, actually more in the worked sense than they should have. ****
7/4/95 Aomori Shi Min Taiikukan
Super Jr. II League Bout: Wild Pegasus (Benoit) vs. Black Tiger (Eddy Guerrero) 12:35 of 20:20. Everything you'd expect from these two greats. Great execution, excellent timing and pacing, stiff work, strong selling for juniors, and so on. Just excellent. ****1/2
Keiji Muto & Tadao Yasuda vs. Hawk Warrior & Power Warrior. Highlights
Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata vs. Scott & Rick Steiner. Highlights
Riki Choshu & Akira Nogami & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Masa Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito. Highlights
Vol. 29 '93 IWGP & G1 Champion Keiji Muto Special Feature
Keiji Muto vs. Big Bubba 9/20/95
Keiji Muto & Jushin Liger vs. Masa Chono & Sabu 9/21/95
Keiji Muto & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata 9/22/95
Keiji Muto & Sting vs. Scott Norton & Big Bubba 9/24/95
Wonderland #746 taped 6/25/95 Saitama Omiya Skate Center
Gran Hamada & Norio Honaga vs. Dean Malenko & Tokimitsu Ishizawa. It seems like every match from this period involving Malenko, Benoit, or Guerrero was really smooth and crisply executed. Malenko was on top of his game here, but it was probably more important toward the overall quality that Honaga & Hamada were able to carry Ishizawa well enough. Of course, Ishizawa lacked the moves and charisma to get himself noticed, but he didn't prevent it from being a really solid match. With Ishizawa not being on the level it was treated as a minor match, so it could only be so good. ***1/4
Best of the Super Junior II Koshikisen: Shinjiro Otani vs. Wild Pegasus. The poster match for why you can't rate based on a few minutes of TV. Edited down to the final 4 1/2 minutes, this would look like a major candidate for match of the year. Unfortunately, the first 10 minutes were contested extremely patiently on the mat. I wouldn't mind this if it led somewhere, but Benoit just started manhandling Otani and they did one impressive move after another until the finish. The execution during the final portion was superb, and there was some brutal throws made that much more impressive by Otani's awesome bumps, but you couldn't help but think this match should have been so much more. ***3/4
Best of the Super Junior II Koshikisen: Koji Kanemoto vs. Black Tiger. Also started slow, but the beginning was much more interesting than the previous match because they did some excellent counters and inserted a high spot or two when necessary to keep the interest up. There were far more highlights than the previous match, but it was not as well performed and there were some false moments. They didn't do a great job of pacing the match or making the moves meaningful, but Tiger did a strong job of carrying it along and keeping Koji from getting goofy. ****
Wonderland #748
6/25/95 Saitama Omiya Skate Center: Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata vs. Osamu Kido & Akira Nogami 10:41. Nogami worked the majority of the match, giving a valiant effort though largely getting destroyed. He got some offense in on Hirata, but simply had no chance against Hashimoto, as Nogami had to get a running start to simply match Hashimoto’s standing impact, and then Shinya would just kick Akira in the gut. **
7/7/95 Hokkaido Iwamizawa Sports Center, Best of the Super Junior II League: El Samurai vs. Wild Pegasus 30:00. An excellent match, but almost on talent alone. It was very obvious these two are great wrestlers who were on top of their physical game, but disappointing that they didn’t utilize the extra time to incorporate any semblance of a mental game. This should have been a great match, in fact it would have been if they simply did their regular length match starting with the portion where Pegasus brutalizes Samurai. I love long matches, but while the final 17 minutes were top notch, the first 13 were merely above average because rather than tell a story and/or set up the body, they essentially just lengthened the technically fine but not particularly meaningful or inspired mat portion. They didn’t make any mistakes, and the fact they were able to maintain such clean execution throughout one of their most draining matches of the year, which obviously required them to dig a lot deeper into the toolbox, is extremely impressive. ****
#746 taped 6/25/95 Saitama Omiya Skate Center
Dean Malenko & Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs. Gran Hamada & Norio Honaga
Best Of The Super Junior II Match: Wild Pegasusvs. Shinjiro Otani
Best Of The Super Junior II Match: Koji Kanemoto vs. Black Tiger II
#747 taped 6/25/95 Saitama Omiya Skate Center
Best Of The Super Junior II Match: Brian Pillman vs. Alex Wright
Keiji Muto & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Hawk Warrior & Power Warrior
Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner
Wonderland #742 taped 6/12/95 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
IWGP Tag Oza Ketteisen: Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Major heat and intensity. Nothing fancy, but good hard-nosed fighting. It had the aura of a big match, and the near finishes to sustain it. There was never any doubt that these guys wanted the titles. No one was great, but everyone was at least good. Tenzan was certainly worlds better in a stiffness program like this than battling moonsaults with Muto. ***3/4
Keiji Muto vs. Kensuke Sasaki. Sasaki got off to a fast start, so Muto started stalling. Muto did a lot of uninspired knee work, and it was almost 11 minutes before the match became interesting again. By then, my mind was wondering all over the place and I could have cared less. It's not like this was an hour match, it only lasted a little over 20 although that seemed like 40. I guess it was supposed to be a story match, but it was so dull and lifeless because neither invested themselves in selling it. Actually, Sasaki did a pretty good job of putting over the knee when they were standing, but on the mat he mainly followed Muto's lead and lied in the hold. Both these guys can give you explosive moments, even if Sasaki can only do it with pedestrian high spots like the powerslam. When they were running or jumping it was good. *3/4
Wonderland #749 taped 7/7/95 Hokkaido Iwamizawa Sports Center
Best of the Super Junior II Koshikisen: Black Tiger vs. Dean Malenko
Tadao Yasuda vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Keiji Muto & Junji Hirata vs. Scott Norton & Mike Enos
#748
6/25/95 Saitama Omiya Skate Center: Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata vs. Osamu Kido & Akira Nogami
7/7/95 Hokkaido Iwamizawa Sports Center, Best of the Super Junior II League: El Samurai vs. Wild Pegasus 30:00. ****
#749 taped 7/7/95 Hokkaido Iwamizawa Sports Center
Best of the Super Junior II League: Dean Malenko vs. Black Tiger II
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Tadao Yasuda
Keiji Muto & Junji Hirata vs. Scott Norton & Mike Enos
6/25/95 Omiya Skate Center
Super Jr. II League Bout: Alex Wright vs. Brian Pillman. Highlights
Super Jr. II League Bout: Wild Pegasus vs. Shinjiro Otani. Appeared to be over **** even though it was rather one-sided in Benoit's favor and only 6:40 was shown. Technically excellent match with Benoit carrying Otani. Benoit's execution was just perfect. Otani did his young babyface routine, which worked during this time period.
Super Jr. II League Bout: Black Tiger vs. Koji Kanemoto. Another technically excellent bout. Eddy carried this so Koji didn't get goofy. 6:02 was shown and it appeared to be a very good match.
7/7/95 Iwanizawa Sports Center
Super Jr. II League Bout: Black Tiger vs. Dean Malenko. Another technically excellent bout, but only 3:41 is shown.
Super Jr. II League Bout: Pegasus vs. El Samurai. 10:07 of a 30:00 draw is shown. This has all the makings of a strong MOTYC. Pegasus was just vicious, and Samurai takes a beating better than most.
7/13/95 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Super Jr. II Semifinal: Wild Pegasus vs. Black Tiger. The whole match is shown (as is the case with the other semi and the final) and it ruled hard. State of the art technically match with really crisp and precise execution. A number of great spots before Tiger sets up Pegasus for a nadare shiki no Frankensteiner only to have Pegasus turn it into a nadare shiki no tombstone piledriver for the win! Tiger does a stretcher job to put over the deadliness of the finisher. Might be Eddy's best match in Japan. ****1/2
Super Jr. II Semifinal: Shinjiro Otani vs. Koji Kanemoto. The whole match aired and even though it was half the length of their league bout, which for those two and most others would be a plus, it didn't seem to be as good. Match got great 12:30 in, but the problem was that the beginning wasn't the greatest and the execution was disappointing because Koji has his flaws but hitting just about ever spot isn't one of them. ***1/2
Super Jr. II Final: Pegasus vs. Otani. This was really hurt by the fact that they had worked earlier in the night. The early portion was slow and there was too much dead time. 5 great minutes stretched out to 19. Pegasus wins tournament. ***1/2
Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki & Yuji Nagata vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Akitoshi Saito & Michiyoshi Ohara. Shiro worked most of the way, which was a big plus, but it was too short to amount to anything. **
IWGP Tag Title Tournament Final: Scott Norton & Mike Enos vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata. Boring match. Norton sucked. Hirata wasn't good. Enos was no better than average. Hashimoto wasn't much of a factor. Hashimoto & Hirata won titles. *
#750 taped 7/13/95 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center
7/7/95 Iwamizawa Sports Center: Shinya Hashimoto & Akira Nogami vs. Hawk Warrior & Power Warrior
El Samurai & Gran Hamada & Akira Nogama vs. Alex Wright & Brian Pillman & Dean Malenko
Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata vs. Scott Norton & Mike Enos
#751 taped 7/13/95 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Tadao Yasuda
Black Tiger vs. Wild Pegasus
Koji Kanemoto vs. Shinjiro Otani
#752 taped 7/13/95 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center
Best Of The Super Junior II Final: Wild Pegasusvs. Shinjiro Otani
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Keiji Muto vs. Road Warrior Hawk
#753
7/13/95 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center: Kensuke Sasaki & Riki Choshu & Yuji Nagata vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Akitoshi Saito & Michiyoshi Ohara
7/18/95 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center: Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Isamu Teranishi
7/25/95 Yokohama Cultural Gym: Kensuke Sasaki & Riki Choshu vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Kengo Kimura
#754 taped 7/18/95 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center
The Great Kabuki vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu
Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Masashi Aoyagi
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Michiyoshi Ohara
7/25/95 Yokohama Cultural Gym: Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
#755 taped 7/18/95 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center
Masa Saito vs. Kengo Kimura
Riki Choshu vs. Shiro Koshinaka
8/11/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Jushin Liger & El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto
#756 taped 8/11/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
7/18/95 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center IWGP Tag Title Match: Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Black Cat vs. Takashi Ishikawa & Yuji Nagata
Tadao Yasuda vs. Junji Hirata
#757 taped 8/11/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Riki Choshu & Takashi Iizuka vs. Akira Nogami & Osamu Kido
G1 CLIMAX: Scott Norton vs. Shinya Hashimoto
G1 CLIMAX: Keiji Muto vs. Shiro Koshinaka
#27 taped 8/12/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
A Block: Ric Flair vs. Shiro Koshinaka
B Block: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kensuke Sasaki
#28 taped 8/12/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
B Block: Scott Norton vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
A: Block: Masa Chono vs. Shiro Koshinaka
8/13/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
A Block: Ric Flair vs. Keiji Muto
8/11/95 league matches
Masahiro Chono vs. Ric Flair
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Keiji Muto
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Scott Norton
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Kensuke Sasaki
8/12/95 league matches
Ric Flair vs. Shiro Koshinaka
Keiji Muto vs.Masahiro Chono
Scott Norton vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Shinya Hashimoto
8/13/95 league matches
Keiji Muto vs. Ric Flair
Masahiro Chono vs. Shiro Koshinaka
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Scott Norton vs. Kensuke Sasaki
8/14/95
G1 CLIMAX Junkessho: Keiji Muto vs. Scott Norton
G1 CLIMAX Junkessho: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masahiro Chono
8/15/95 GI CLIMAX Yushoketteisen: Keiji Muto vs. Shinya Hashimoto
8/11: Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani
8/12: Yuji Nagata & Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani
8/12: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Kazuo Yamazaki 6:22. Yamazaki is the most underrated shooter of his era largely because at the time, people didn't understand what a real match actually looked like, and just defaulted to the flashy excitement Takada brought not realizing how loose it was, how little water it held and the feeble amount of resistance that was involved. While it's true that Yamazaki is not as exciting in a pro wrestling sense, I would suggest he's often more exciting in a worked shoot sense, which is what he cares about anyway, because he tells stories and actually works for and earns his offense. This was Yamazaki's second match in NJ after finally returning from the floudering UWF-I, a promotion that had disgracefully transformed him from a UWF main eventer who was capable of beating even the legendary Akira Maeda and was the promotions best bout machine to the UWF-I jobber who made whoever they were setting up to challenge Takada next look great. I assume Yamazaki hung in so long because shooting was his real passion, and while this match showed the potential for that style in New Japan, he knew most of the guys above him such as Muto were entrenched in their old school fakery and weren't going to take the time to figure out how to believably incorporate their offense. Even though Liger is a high flying junior who wants to do high spots for the fun of it and is expected to entertain, he wasn't that kind of opponent, and embraced the challenge of doing a "real" match. It turned out to be one of the most credible worked shoots of the first half of the 90's outside of Pancrase, and showed the real potential of the NJ vs. UWF-I program if NJ's goal would have been to do something sustainable and memorable rather than to squash the myth of shooting through cheesy fake Buddy Rogers submissions. Though Yamazaki was a junior in his day, Liger clearly had the speed & mobility advantages over him and, more importantly, was in only his second match back from suffering a broken leg against Muto & Pegasus on 9/24/94, so Yamazaki targetted the leg with low kicks. Liger actually didn't just stand there for these like the usual cooperating tool, but rather enacted a reactive strategy where he did his best to check the low kicks so he wasn't taking damage, and preferably catch them so he could trip Yamazaki up for the takedown. Leg locks were a lot more viable at this time, especially in Japan where it was a long time before ground strikes to the face were legal, but I still would have preferred more counters to them, a rope escape just seems so lame when you can just roll because the opponent has no body control. The fact that Yamazaki was working the ankle on the leg that wasn't injured probably says something about Liger needing to regain his confidence in his body, or that his return was rushed so he could be a part of the big summer tour. The problem with this match is in order to not loose too much believability, they have to keep it short, and it wound up being a tight little themed match that could have used a few more answers from Liger to take it to the next level. Liger had one nice armbar counter to the ankle lock, but generally lacked any reasonable resistance on the ground to the ashikubigamate, a move that's shockingly easy to counter in countless different ways. I wasn't a big fan of the finish where he eventually just got frustrated & tried to abandon shooting, hitting something of a no cooperation backdrop &, in the one nod to pro wrestling, his powerbomb for the only near fall of the match after Yamazaki dropped to his butt to avoid the first time. The finish itself was good though as Liger tried to take advantage of a prone Yamazaki, with a nasty knee to the head while Yamazaki is on his knees and something of a penalty kick, but Yamazaki caught the 2nd one into the ankle lock for the submission. ***
8/13: Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani
8/13: Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Osamu Kido
8/14: Ric Flair vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
8/14: Osamu Kido & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Riki Choshu & Takayuki Iizuka
8/15: Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani
#758 taped 8/11/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
G1 Climax: Ric Flair vs. Masahiro Chono
G1 Climax: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Kensuke Sasaki
#759 taped taped 8/12/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Masao Orihara & Riki Choshu vs. Akira Nogami & Junji Hirata
Ric Flair vs. Shiro Koshinaka
G1 Climax: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Scott Norton
#760 taped 8/12/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
G1 Climax: Kensuke Sasaki vs. Shinya Hashimoto
G1 Climax: Keiji Muto vs. Masahiro Chono
#761 taped 8/12/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
El Samurai vs. Takashi Ishikawa
Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto vs. Tokimitsu Ishizawa & Yuji Nagata
8/13/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Yuji Nagata
Akira Nogami & Takashi Ishikawa vs. Riki Choshu & Junji Hirata
#29 taped 8/13/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Scott Norton vs. Kensuke Sasaki
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
8/14/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan G1 CLIMAX Semifinal: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masahiro Chono
#30 taped 8/14/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
G1 CLIMAX Semifinal: Keiji Muto vs. Scott Norton 17:05. *1/2
G1 CLIMAX Final: Keiji Muto vs. Shinya Hashimoto 24:05. ****
Wonderland #760 taped 8/12/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
'95 G1 CLIMAX B Block Koshikisen: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kensuke Sasaki
'95 G1 CLIMAX B Block Koshikisen: Keiji Muto vs. Masahiro Chono
Wonderland #765 taped 8/14/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Masa Saito & Junji Hirata vs. Michiyoshi Ohara & Akitoshi Saito
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto & Tokimitsu Ishizawa
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Ric Flair
#762 2/4/02 taped 8/13/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Osamu Kido
G1 CLIMAX: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Shinya Hashimoto
#763 2/5/02 taped 8/13/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
G1 CLIMAX: Scott Norton vs. Kensuke Sasaki
G1 CLIMAX: Ric Flair vs. Keiji Muto
#764 taped 8/14/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
8/13/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan G1 CLIMAX B Block: Masahiro Chono vs. Shiro Koshinaka
Shiro Koshinaka & Tatsuhito Goto vs. Akira Nogami & Kensuke Sasaki
Kazuo Yamazaki & Osamu Kido vs. Riki Choshu & Takayuki Iizuka
#765 taped 8/14/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Masa Saito & Junji Hirata vs. Michiyoshi Ohara & Akitoshi Saito
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto & Tokimitsu Ishizawa
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Ric Flair
#766 taped 8/14/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Shinjiro Otani vs. Yuji Nagata
Keiji Muto vs. Scott Norton
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masahiro Chono
#767 taped 8/14/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Tokimitsu Ishizawa
Akitoshi Saito vs. Yuji Nagata
Takayuki Iizuka vs. Akira Nogami
Kensuke Sasaki & Tadao Yasuda vs. Scott Norton & Masa Saito
#768 taped 8/15/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Masahiro Chono vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Tatsutoshi Goto
G1 CLIMAX Final: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Keiji Muto
#769 taped 8/15/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani
Riki Choshu & Osamu Kido vs. Kengo Kimura & Michiyoshi Ohara
9/23/95 Yokohama Arena: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Sabu
#770 taped 9/23/95 Yokohama Arena
Gran Hamada vs. Hiro Saito
Shinjiro Otani & Akira Nogami vs. Koji Kanemoto & Tokimitsu Ishizawa
Wild Pegasusvs. Lord Steven Regal. At once an awesome match because it's a rare occasion where Regal gets to truly do his match throughout, and an incredibly frustrating one as Regal was only willing to do the most generic stuff he could use on anyone, rather than actually incorporate any of Benoit's ability to actually do the style by countering, transitioning, tumbling, asking questions or really interacting in any sort of manner. In order for Benoit to finally be a part of the match, they mostly just left the mat & exchanged high spots in the final quarter of the match, which felt like something different, especially given one of the strengths had been that Regal's small joint manipulation felt really nasty rather than a warm up to the usual spectacle, though the ill intent did carry over as they used some brutal headbutts & exchanged manhandling each other back down into another pin attempt as soon as they'd kick out.
#771 taped 9/23/95 Yokohama Arena
Shiro Koshimaka vs. Nobukazu Hirai
Sting vs. Keiji Muto
Yuji Nagata & Riki Choshu vs. Tatsuo Nakano & Yoji Anjo
#772
9/23/95 Yokohama Arena: Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
9/25/95 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani
#773 taped 9/25/95 Osaka Prefectural Gym
9/23/95 Yokohama Arena: Road Warrior Hawk & Power Warrior vs. Scott Norton & Big Bubba Rogers
El Samurai & Gran Hamada & Akira Nogami vs. Sabu & Hiro Saito & Great Kojika
Sting & Road Warrior Hawk vs. Scott Norton & Big Bubba Rogers
9/23
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Sabu. Liger wrote Sabu off as hopeless, and just let him do his usual exhibition of spots. Sabu was slipping all over the place in addition to his usual execution problems. My favorite spot was Sabu trying to tope Liger into a table, but Liger pulling the table in front so Sabu cracked his head on it (which opened Sabu up around the eye) then going into the ring and mocking the Sabu bows. Another cool spot was Sabu Frankensteiner Liger over the top rope to the floor. This wasn't one of those spots where the guy just hops over the top rope to take the bump, it was the kind of spot Sabu is all about where he crashes the floor too trying to inflict more punishment on his opponent. The finish was terrible because it was obvious that the guy kicked out at 2 1/2. *3/4
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Shiro Koshinaka. Koshinaka did a great job working within the confines of what Yamazaki's style allows, as well as showing credible ways to expand them. The counters between Koshinaka's pro style and Yamazaki's shoot style were impressive. The match had excellent high points and the fans were into it. The middle wasn't nearly as good as the beginning and end though. ***
Keiji Muto vs. Sting. Too much down time with Sting getting into his American timewasting and Muto never being above his put us to sleeper hold. The excessive stalling for an 11 minute match was balanced off though by the good jumping and flying moves. Sting's execution isn't nearly as sharp as Muto's. The fans didn't get into it, but I thought there was enough athleticism to enjoy it. **3/4
IWGP Tag Title: Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Took forever to get going. Very simple match, but not the good Hashimoto beats the shit out of you with kicks kind of simple that I expected. Eventually picked up and got stiffer, but lacked heat and was never that interesting. I was satisfied with Chono's work, but Hashimoto and to a lesser extent Tenzan were disappointing and Hirata did nothing. **
Riki Choshu & Yuji Nagata vs. Yoji Anjo & Tatsuo Nakano. Opening the NJ vs. UWF-I feud, this had major heat. A lot more attitude than substance, but that was okay given it was mainly a tease for the 10/9 Tokyo Dome show. It had the intensity and the stiffness. The stiff blows were from in close, so it was hard to appreciate just how brutal this match was. You could tell more by the marks it was leaving on the performers. Anjo's face was particularly battered and bloodied, with his eye swollen at least close to shut. Nagata was by the most impressive performer, throwing the most glamorous strikes as well as some bone crunching suplexes. ***
9/25
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani. The best thing about this match was they constantly had an answer for their opponent's moves. They didn't have a focus, just reacted and let the match go where the counter took it. Smoothly and cleanly worked, although there were a few more execution problems than I expected. Liger was doing everything he could to prevent getting caught by Otani's swandive missile kick, but in being so aggressive hitting Otani through the ropes to try to knock him off the apron the ref stepped in, thus giving Otani the opening to hit the spot. Otani was able to compete with Liger, but there was little if any sense that he was ready to take it to the next level. ***3/4
Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Osamu Kido. In kind of a play off Maeda's infamous shoot kick, Yamazaki gave Choshu a cheapshot high kick before the bell. This got surprisingly little reaction, but Choshu losing his temper and charging Yamazaki got a pop. The cheap shot set the fiery fierce tone of the match, which was not good as a wrestling match but effective as an intense fight. The problem is all the interest was placed on the Choshu vs. Yamazaki pairing. Not that it wasn't the matchup to watch anyway, but now it was like who cared about Sasaki & Kido (then again, that's been my thought since I first saw those two). In contrast to this, an argument put the post match heat on Yamazaki vs. Sasaki. I think the goal of the match was simply to put more heat on Yamazaki, but in any case I was surprised that the Yamazaki vs. Sasaki post match got more reaction than anything with Yamazaki vs. Choshu. **1/4
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Koji Kanemoto vs. Wild Pegasus. Beautiful, sometimes poetic match built completely off of counters to show their equality. Excellent chain wrestling. They kept hold of each other and did the same move right back or went into a different one. Smooth, flowing match with precise execution, great balance and movement. Benoit was at the top of his game here. He did more junior movies like Frankensteiner off the top, missile kick, and backdrop off the top rather than being Mr. Intensity and Stiffness with the too tight moveset like in later years. They didn't get into selling or psychology, which totally played into Kanemoto's hands. Kanemoto did some nice counters like a surprising huracanrana for a lariat that was potentially going to take him out and landing on his feet for a superplex. ****1/2
IWGP Heavyweight Title: Keiji Muto vs. Junji Hirata. 6 1/2 minutes of nothing, a few spots, then some more restmissions. Hirata wasn't made credible. I realize Hirota is a weak throwaway challenger, but don't run a title match just to tell me that. Not surprisingly, this had little heat. I appreciated the high spots, unfortunately about the only thing Muto decided to bring to the table, but half the match was wasted and the other half did little to engage me. The awkwardness of Hirata's style clashed with the smoothness of Muto's. Suddenly at 13 it turned into a hot match with Hirata hitting his big moves, but by then it was almost over. **1/4
Wonderland #49
10/30/78 Okayama Budokan 2/3 Falls NWA International Tag Title Match: Seiji Sakaguchi & Strong Kobayashi vs. Kill Karl Crupp & Brute Barnard. Really dull match between a bunch of old slow guys. Killer & Brute were really unskilled and unathletic to the point they didn't even fall well. Lots of exciting moves like the bear hug and ground claw, though the gaijins at least focused on Sakaguchi's knee. 17:32 & 3:27
4/5/79 Tokyo Taiikukan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Perro Aguayo. Fujinami once again worked Lucha style to suit his opponent. Unfortunately, Perro did nothing to change my mind about him probably never being any good. His selling was comical, and offensively he relied totally on low impact and elevation sentons. All the quality came from Fujinami, who gave a really good performance that was different for him because he relied on his flying to keep it interesting. Fujinami was actually exciting, doing some nice sequences like a cartwheel to avoid Perro's monkey flip then 2 flying headscissors and a dropkick in rapid succession. Short match and Perro was still a dog though. ***1/2
Wonderland #775 taped 10/9/95 Tokyo Dome
9/25/95 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshuken Jiai: Koji Kanemoto vs. Wild Pegasus. Smooth fluid match with impressive counters and transitions. Pegasus has serious impact on his moves, especially a jackknife that set up his diving headbutt. His top rope backdrop was awesome. In these days, his offense was really diverse though, and he pulled out spots like the Frankensteiner off the top. Kanemoto didn't use so much "shoot offense" at this time, so it was a very athletic match from both men. The offense was excellent, but they also worked the moves in so well. The fans were won over by the high quality of the match. 17:14. ****1/2
Yuji Nagata & Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara & Kazushi Sakuraba. Match was alright, but it should have been better. They worked out a few key spots, but not much happened in between. 10:47. **
Shinjiro Otani vs. Kenichi Yamamoto. Otani was much better at exciting the crowd in the mid 90's. Yamamoto wasn't even a threat, but the crowd was into seeing Otani hit a dropkick against a "shooter" and they stayed with it throughout. Yamamoto did a really quick German suplex. 7:17. **1/4
#774 3/18/02 taped 9/25/95 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
IWGP Tag Title: Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Osamu Kido
IWGP Heavyweight Title: Keiji Muto vs. Junji Hirata
#775 3/19/02 taped 10/9/95 Tokyo Dome
9/25/95 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Koji Kanemoto vs. Wild Pegasus 17:14. ****1/2
Yuji Nagata & Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara & Kazushi Sakuraba 10:47
Shinjiro Otani vs. Kenichi Yamamoto 7:17
Highlights of the IWGP Heavyweight title matches from the IWGP League to create the title in June 1987 through 9/25/95.
Wonderland #776 taped 10/9 Tokyo Dome
Takashi Iizuka vs. Yoshihiro Takayama. You have to feel sorry for Iizuka. Not only do they give him the biggest stiff opponent, he's like the one guy that actually has to put him over. Takayama's ineptness basically undermined Iizuka's attempt at decency. Most of his strikes looked pathetic, as always. Where it got funny was when Takayama tried to dropkick Iizuka as he was getting up, but he dropkicked over Iizuka. Match wasn't the least bit believable because Takayama was so off the mark. 7:39. *
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Yuhi Sano. Liger was out to excite the crowd early, so he missed an abisegiri at the bell, hit one a minute later, then teased a dive. They used a number of fake moves, but they incorporated them as believably as possible into a credible setting. Sano did a monkey flip takedown into an udehishikigyakujujigatame, but Liger blocked it. Liger missed a pescado, but then as he got up Sano hit a tope. This was by far the most exciting match of the night. It obviuosly wasn't the most believable, but it was still more believable than the matches where the "real" stuff was done poorly and more importantly the fake stuff added a lot to the match. Ironically, perhaps the realist move of the night was a nasty DDT that appeared to legitimately injure Sano's neck. 10:14. ***1/4
Yoji Anjo vs. Riki Choshu. This disgrace was one of Choshu's grossest exercises in ego feeding. Choshu was unphased by Anjo's knees, and apparently his body punches bounced off Riki's gut. Then Choshu went on offense and Anjo was stuck selling even the blows that were off the mark. Choshu no sold a knee bar, though I can excuse this because Anjo applied it so poorly. The place exploded when Choshu hit his vaunted Riki lariat, and again when he applied his sasorigatame. Maybe you could argue that Choshu sold one move. 4:45. DUD
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Masahito Kakihara. Sasaki might not be a good wrestler, but at least he's always up for interpromotional matches and he respects his opponents and their style. Here, he did strikes like the shotei and high kick and submissions like the ankle lock. Sasaki wasn't fluid and looked lost at times, but his attitude and the effort he put forth allowed it to be about as good as it possible. Their lack of familiarity hurt, as they didn't go with the holds the way the other hoped, but the main thing that kept the quality down is they didn't do as much as they could have. I mean, no one really hurt the other or anything. Big time heat though. 9:12. *1/2
#777 taped 10/9/95 Tokyo Dome
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Tatsuo Nakano. More realistic with little success, but brief explosions. It was exciting when Hashimoto opened it up, but he didn't let that rush take over, instead quickly went back to the match he'd been doing. Hashimoto actually didn't have to adjust his style that much; it's more that he had an opponent that allowed him to explore it rather than forcing him to do a bunch of spots. 7:20. **1/2
IWGP Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Keiji Muto vs. Nobuhiko Takada. Takada came out expecting to steal the show, which absolutely happened considering the competition. Unfortunately, Muto decided to give what I'd rank as the #1 dog performance of all time. He didn't want to do anything. He wouldn't take Takada's openings unless they were to disengage. You could see Takada's frustration growing, including giving Muto a quick funny look, but Muto kept dancing around and running away. There weren't any holds early on, with Muto using ground but no pound. Finally, after 7 minutes he threw some headbutts and kicks for a knockdown. Takada then tried to unload, but Muto moved so their impact was minimized, although he did fall for them. It was quickly back to the mat though, with Muto just holding on. The fans went nuts when something actually happened, but since Muto had no respect for Takada or his style that was usually a poor unbelievable of what Liger did to excite the crowd. The hear grew more and more disappointing since Muto was hell bent on giving the fans nothing to cheer about. There was no sustained action because Muto would do something to break up any momentum they might have gained. Muto did take some good kicks, but they were mainly to the thighs and Takada went easy on him. Muto "injured" Takada's knee with a Dragon screw then put on the figure 4, but Takada got the ropes. Takada tried kicking, but Muto would catch his leg. In a really stupid spot, after Takada countered with an enzuigiri Muto no sold and applied the winning figure 4 before Takada could get back to his feet. What's so disgusting about this match is Muto totally ruined it but came out more popular than ever, while Takada gave one of his last inspired performances but came out at an all-time low for losing in a fake submission applied by a fake aerial wrestler. 16:17. *3/4
10/29/95 Fukuoka Marine Messe Fukuoka: Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Tatsuo Nakano. Intense. Lots of strikes from close range, including headbutts from Yamazaki that opened up his own head and Nakano's face. It was short and rather uneventful with a submission out of nowhere though. Hardly the match they are capable of doing, although most of the blame for that should not be placed on them. *1/4
Yuji Nagata & Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara & Kazushi Sakuraba 10:47
Shinjiro Otani vs. Kenichi Yamamoto 7:18
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Takashi Iizuka 7:39
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Keiji Muto vs. Nobuhiko Takada 16:16
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Naoki Sano 10:14
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Masahito Kakihara 9:03
Riki Choshu vs. Yoji Anjo 4:45
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Tatsuo Nakano 7:20
Yuji Nagata & Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara & Kazushi Sakuraba 10:47
Shinjiro Otani vs. Kenichi Yamamoto 7:18
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Takashi Iizuka 7:39
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Naoki Sano 10:14
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Masahito Kakihara 9:03
Riki Choshu vs. Yoji Anjo 4:45
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Tatsuo Nakano 7:20
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Keiji Muto vs. Nobuhiko Takada 16:16
Highlights of the first two rounds of NJ vs. UWF-I from 9/23/95 & 10/9/95
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Tatsuo Nakano. Intense. Lots of strikes from close range, including headbutts from Yamazaki that opened up his own head and Nakano's face. It was short and rather uneventful with a submission out of nowhere though. Hardly the match they are capable of doing, although most of the blame for that should not be placed on them. *1/4
Shinjiro Otani vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara. Otani sacrificed his style to do Kanehara's match. This was actually more realistic than most UWF-I matches. Beginning was all positioning and failed attempts at submissions. When they started getting submissions on, the fans were into them. Otani did work in a couple of high spots, and this took some creativity. For instance, he faked an injury then popped up and dropkicked Kanehara in the back as Kanehara was walking toward the corner (since he thought he'd scored a knockdown). Spots like this allowed Otani to make it exciting without hurting the credibility. Really nice transitions on the mat, and dramatic near submissions. Not that long, but really impressive stuff. ***1/2
Takashi Iizuka vs. Kazushi Sakuraba. Everything they did looked good, but they definitely didn't do as much as they could have. The problem was that Iizuka wasn't supposed to give Sakuraba much respect, so the match wound up being short and not that dramatic. *3/4
Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto vs. Naoki Sano & Kenichi Yamamoto. Liger & Koji switched to the "realistic" style, but they tried to keep as much excitement in their matches as possible. They were able to create situations where fake spots were believable by doing simple things like having their partner hold their opponent so they could give him a dropkick without him moving out of the way. Subsequently, the fans popped for the moves more in this match than in any other on the show. It really wasn't very realistic, but how realistic is a tag shoot to begin with? It was submission oriented, but the ironic thing is that made the few highspots more memorable. Yamamoto was a weak link because he's not even that good in UWF-I much less combining it with pro style elements that he's not familiar with, but everyone else did a good job. ***
Masahito Kakihara & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Keiji Muto & Yuji Nagata. Definitely more intense and realistic than the previous match, but it certainly was not as exciting. Nagata did most of the work for his team, and was very realistic and solid technically. Muto pretty much did the same things he always does, except he cut out some of his fakest moves. Obviously, Kakihara vs. Nagata was the highlight. Match seemed like it was going to be much better than it turned out to be, as it ended a lot sooner than it appeared it would. **1/4
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Yoji Anjo. Dull match. They didn't screw up or do spots poorly, but nothing they did was particularly well done or interesting either. Anjo focused on Sasaki's knee, and one thing Sasaki is pretty good at is putting over a body part. Sasaki soon came back with a couple of moves and that was it though. It's not like it was going to be a great match or anything, but matches like this that could have been much more than they turned out to be are what defined this whole feud. *1/2
#778 4/8/02 taped 10/29/95 Fukuoka Marine Messe Fukuoka
Riki Choshu & Tadao Yasuda vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Michiyoshi Ohara
Shinjiro Otani vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara
Takashi Iizuka vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
#779 4/9/02 taped 10/29/95 Fukuoka Marine Messe Fukuoka
El Samurai vs. Akira Nogami
Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto vs. Naoki Sano & Kenichi Yamamoto
Keiji Muto & Yuji Nagata vs. Masahito Kakihara & Yoshihiro Takayama
5/1/94 Fukuoka Dome Dream Exhibition Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Satoru Sayama
6/13/94 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. II Yushoketteisen: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Super Delfin
9/23/94 Kanagawa Yokohama Arena: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Wonderland Liger #16
8/4/94 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Gran Hamada
10/9/95 Tokyo Dome: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Naoki Sano
10/29/95 Fukuoka Marine Messe: Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto vs. Naoki Sano & Kenichi Yamamotoer Liger vs. Sabu
#780 taped 10/30/95 Hiroshima Green Arena
10/29/95 Fukuoka Marine Messe: Yoji Anjo vs Kensuke Sasaki
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto
Shiro Koshinaka & Akitoshi Saito vs. Akira Nogami & Takashi Iizuka
#781 taped 10/30/95 Hiroshima Green Arena
Super Grade Tag League V Match Semifinal: Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata
Keiji Muto & Osamu Nishimura vs. Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki
11/13/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Arn Anderson & The Giant vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Tadao Yasuda
#782 taped 11/13/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
10/30/95 Hiroshima Green Arena Super Grade Tag League V Match Final: Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Osamu Kido & Kazuo Yamazaki
Booker T vs. Junji Hirata
Bobby Eaton & Johnny B. Badd vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiro Saito
#783 taped 11/13/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Jushin Thunder Liger & Yuji Nagata & Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs. Shinjiro Otani & El Samurai & Koji Kanemoto
Ric Flair vs. Osamu Nishimura
Manabu Nakanishi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
#784 5/14/02 taped 11/13/95 Ryogoku Kokugikan
Steven Regal vs. Keiji Muto
WCW United States Heavyweight Title Match: Sting vs. Kensuke Sasaki
#785 taped 11/23/95 Kawasaki Todoroki Arena
11/13/95: Brian Knobs & Jerry Sags vs. Masahiro Saito & Riki Choshu
Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata & Akira Nogami vs. Kengo Kimura & Kuniaki Kobayashi & Michiyoshi Ohara
Sabu vs. Gran Hamada
Akira Nogami vs. Koji Kanemoto
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani
The Giant vs. Tadao Yasuda
Booker T vs. Shinya Hashimoto
Yuji Nagata vs. Kurosawa
Lord Steven Regal & Bobby Eaton vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Osamu Nishimura
Nasty Boys vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Sting & Keiji Muto vs. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson
Sakie Hasegawa Retirement Road
2/12/96 Korakuen: Sakie Hasegawa vs. Bison Kimura
3/9/96 Korakuen: Sakie Hasegawa & Tomoko Watanabe & Kaoru Ito vs. Takako Inoue & Toshiyo Yamada & Aja Kong
MPW 3/15/96 Osaka Rinkai Sports Center, Blizzard Yuki Retirement Match: Blizzard Yuki vs. Chaparrita ASARI
3/20/96 Hakata Starlanes: Sakie Hasegawa vs. Manami Toyota
#786 taped 11/23/95 Kawasaki Todoroki Arena
El Samurai & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Black Cat & El Mexicano 11:12
Osamu Nishimura & Riki Choshu vs. Hiro Saito & Hiroyoshi Tenzan 7:36
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Akitoshi Saito 8:20
Keiji Muto vs. Tatsutoshi Goto 10:03
#790 taped 12/11/95 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Koji Kanemoto vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 14:19
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Keiji Muto vs. Shiro Koshinaka 14:22
1/4/96 Tokyo Dome: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Satoshi Kojima 9:24
#786 taped 11/23/95 Kawasaki Todoroki Arena
El Samurai & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Black Cat & El Mexicano 11:12
Osamu Nishimura & Riki Choshu vs. Hiro Saito & Hiroyoshi Tenzan 7:36
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Akitoshi Saito 8:20
Keiji Muto vs. Tatsutoshi Goto 10:03
#787 taped 12/10/95 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
11/23/95 Kawasaki Todoroki Arena Masahiro Chono vs. Shiro Koshinaka
Shiro Koshinaka & Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata
Kazuo Yamazaki beat Osamu Nishimura
Masahiro Chono vs. Yoji Anjo
#788 taped 12/10/95 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
Yuji Nagata vs. Kenichi Yamamoto
Nagoya Scramble 3 Big Single Match: Keiji Muto vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
12/11/95 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Wild Pegasus & Dean Malenko vs. Sabu & Hiro Saito
#789 taped 12/11/95 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Kensuke Sasaki & Yuji Nagata vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Takashi Iizuka
Riki Choshu & Akira Nogami & Osamu Nishimura vs. Kengo Kimura & Michiyoshi Ohara & Masashi Aoyagi
IWGP Tag Titles: Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata vs. Masa Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
#790 taped 12/11/95 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Keiji Muto vs. Shiro Koshinaka
1/4/96 Tokyo Dome: Satoshi Kojima vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
#791 taped 1/4/96 Tokyo Dome
Yuji Nagata & Shinjiro Otani & Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs. Kenichi Yamamoto & Kazushi Sakuraba & Hiromitsu Kanehara
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto
Hiromichi Fuyuki vs. Yoji Anjo