Mima Shimoda & Mariko Yoshida vs. Kaoru Maeda & Lady Apache 12:52. The AJW team (Mima Shimoda & Mariko Yoshida) lost this match. This match wasn’t shown on Champ Forum, unfortunately. It sounds like a decent match on paper, though. By the way, this show promoted by Federacion Universal de Lucha Libre took place on the first day of a seven-show tour. There would be two shows on 1/19/92 and a rest day on 1/20/92 before the tour would end after the 1/23/92 show.

Lightning Kid vs. Jerry Lynn 12:16 of 15:00. Lightning Kid (Sean Waltman) and Jerry Lynn used to hang out together to watch all kinds of wrestling tapes, and it must have been a dream for them to deliver their match at arguably the most famous wrestling arena in the world, as not many American indy workers can say the same. The unique blend of everything these two guys watched - a combination of American, Japanese and Mexican pro wrestling styles - made this a match that fit well in this unique Mexican-style lucha libre league in Japan, Federacion Universal de Lucha Libre. These two guys clearly cared about what they did. They did a bunch of exciting stuff that had a sense of importance to it. It wasn’t just flying, as there were also submission attempts, which showed the versatility of these guys. However, they clearly had a bit of trouble adapting to the Japanese ring, as here at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan, they couldn’t quite deliver the same magic they had been able to deliver in Minnesota and Texas. Things didn’t go as smoothly here as in their ahead-of-their-time American matches. That being said, it was interesting to watch this, and it most likely was a very useful experience for them to be in Japan. Very good match. ***½

Silver King & El Texano & Solar I vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. & Villano IV & Villano V 20:37. Los Villanos were solid, and contributed reasonably well. In general, the execution in this match was good enough, but not always super crisp. Solar has the reputation of being a good technical wrestler, but he didn’t really show it in this particular match. Solar I was decent here, but he really didn’t stand out. When Solar wrestled the Villano brothers, what he showed is kinda what is to be expected in a lucha match. Solar’s match against Robin Hood (of all people) on 1/23/92 gives a better indication of what he was capable of delivering at the time. When Dr. Wagner Jr. wrestled Silver King, they showed more advanced wrestling. Los Cowboys stood out the most because their work was more explosive. This match was pretty good, but it felt there was something missing to really make this memorable. It’s almost like someone told them last-minute they’d have to go 20 minutes instead of the usual 12 minutes or so. It was a relatively long one-fall match, and while the work was generally interesting, it was the final minutes that saw the action pick up more and help confirm this was a pretty good match overall. Good match. ***  

Gran Hamada & Sakigake Gantetsu & Kendo & Dos Caras vs. Brazo de Oro & Brazo de Plata & El Brazo & Robin Hood 7:10, 4:04, 3:17. Los hermanos Brazo focused mainly on trying to get the crowd to chant and clap. Sakigake Gantetsu was the future SATO/Dick Togo. He had only been wrestling since 6/5/91. It was definitely good for his lucharesu career to be in a full-fledged lucha match like this one, in spite of the four Brazo brothers mainly focusing on entertaining the crowd. Gran Hamada was the man, and wrestled this match seriously in spite of all the comedy displayed by his opponents. Kendo was an impressive athlete, but he didn’t stand out much in this match. Dos Caras was fine with watching the match from the apron. Decent match. **½ 

Canelo Casas & Tony Arce & Vulcano vs. El Pantera II & Coolie SZ & Bulldog KT 15:43. This was kind of a chaotic and disjointed match. The overall execution wasn’t bad, but definitely seemed a bit off, as it wasn’t as slick as we’re used to from matches involving guys like Canelo Casas (the future Heavy Metal) and El Pantera. Bulldog KT was the future Gedo, so that probably also played a role in the match not being that good. Coolie SZ had his Hitman tribute gear and was one of the best Bret Hart wannabes in history (along with Koji Nakagawa and Franz Schumann). Tony Arce & Vulcano were okay-ish lucha brawlers, but they tend to be relatively unspectacular. Decent match. **¾   

Show rating: 6.0/10.0. Good show.

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