El Pantera II & Robin Hood vs. Tony Arce & Vulcano 13:44. Pantera clearly showed that he was one of the most spectacular workers in the world in early 1992. And perhaps most interestingly, him being in this match completely made the other workers become more focused on delivering a good match (to the best of their ability). Tony Arce & Vulcano are generally not the most spectacular luchadores you’ll find. However, this match is a perfect example of them being able to exceed expectations when they’re in there with the right guy, in this case; El Pantera. Robin Hood was physically capable of being a good luchador, but mentally he was too immature and too clownish. However, thanks to Pantera being in this match, even Robin Hood wrestled in a much more serious manner compared to when he would team with his Brazo brothers. This match still had its ‘funny’ moments, but it wasn’t getting in the way of the wrestling. Good match. ***

Kaoru Ito & Mima Shimoda & Kaoru Maeda vs. Mariko Yoshida & Takako Inoue & Lady Apache 22:40. This was pretty much an AJW match on a Universal show, as Kaoru Maeda used to be part of AJW and Mexican luchadora Lady Apache was the only outsider of the match. Apache had been doing quite well on his tour, managing to step up her game to not drag things down for the high-level AJW workers. It was nice to hear the Korakuen Hall crowd chant for the underrated Takako. Everyone worked hard. Apache was the only one who was a significant number of steps behind the rest, but this was her first tour of Japan, and she did quite well when you consider that fact. Plus, Apache was the authentic lucha flavor of the match. Of the Japanese girls, Mariko Yoshida had the most trouble keeping up with the others, and was the most bland worker of the match. This was from before the time her work would start showing more conviction and from before the time she would start blossoming. Takako definitely carried her team with her superb display of timing and execution. Kaoru Ito was truly made for a fast-paced (six-)woman match like this back then, as her enthusiasm and passion added a lot. It was great that these women were given over twenty minutes, which they truly made use of. Mima Shimoda worked faster than ever before, and she really played a significant role in maintaining the momentum of the match. Kaoru Maeda showed that she was still a very useful and unselfish worker back then. The work peaked when Takako and Shimoda wrestled each other. After a lot of exciting trios action, luchadora Apache pinned Kaoru for the win. The match succeeded in being what it needed to be; the show-stealing sleeper midcard match. Very good match. ***¾  

UWF Super Middleweight Title Tournament Final: Canelo Casas vs. Solar I 14:15. Quality-wise, this was just about as good as the second match on the night show (the joshi trios match), but it was a completely different match stylistically. It was interesting to see Canelo Casas do some more matwork in order to try to have a bit more of a Solar type of match here. However, since Solar could be quite a versatile luchador, this definitely wasn’t all matwork, as we saw all kinds of elements of lucha libre Mexicana here in this bout. That being said, Solar appears to truly excel in a singles title bout type of setting, as that’s the type of lucha match that is traditionally calling for his type of matwork. There was some cool countering and replying by both workers, and that made for a fascinating match, as opposed to the typical fun but random throw-away lucha match we tend to see on these Universal shows. So we didn’t see a generic type of reacting here, but a more genuine-feeling sort of replying to each other’s actions and movements. And that all helped add to the idea that this was indeed a title decision match. The pace was perfect because it was a slower methodical kind of match, but there always seemed to be something useful happening. In the end, after some more intense back-and-forth minutes, Solar scored the pinfall win. After the match, while Solar was receiving his belt and trophy, Canelo started protesting heavily, claiming it was a fast count that made him lose. This was not only the mark of a true rudo, but also the sign of someone who is able to put over the idea they care about winning. Solar was ready to go another round, but the referee literally waved it off. The ref probably realized there were time restrictions because the Brazos need a lot of time to clown around. Anyway, we can’t complain, because this has been a tremendous show. Very good match. ***¾  

Sakigake Kantetsu & Dos Caras & Villano IV & Villano V vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. & Brazo de Oro & Brazo de Plata & El Brazo 11:38. As much as the Brazos are not my kind of workers due to their comedy approach, I must say they deserve credit for having the Korakuen Hall crowd in the palm of their hands. The Universal fans truly understood that Mexican lucha libre can indeed magically work in a Japanese setting. That being said, they took a very long time interacting with the crowd here, and that set the tone for this being just a midcard comedy match that was going to be lighthearted clowning until hopefully some exciting lucha occured at the end. We certainly can’t claim there wasn’t enough variety on this show, but Los Brazos really dragged this match down a lot. What a waste of having the talented opposition just stand there and be forced to watch bad comedy. Once Los Brazos were finally done with their contrived wackiness, Dr. Wagner Jr. pinned Sakigake Kantetsu completely out of nowhere. Mediocre match. *¾ 

UWA & UWF Intercontinental Tag Team Title: Coolie SZ & Bulldog KT vs. Lightning Kid & Jerry Lynn 4:43. This was way too short of a match, but it was really good while it lasted, especially when Bulldog KT (Gedo) wasn’t in there. Lightning Kid (Sean Waltman) truly was like an electric lighting bolt on this tour. I wish they would have taken away some time from Los Brazos and gave it to these guys instead. The Kid cut an aggressive heel promo after the match. Back in 1992, Waltman was already saying what we’re all thinking nowadays, as he literally called Gedo a “fat piece of sh*t.” Decent match. **¾ 

Universal 1/19/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, UWA Tag Team Title: Gran Hamada & Kendo vs. Silver King & El Texano 10:54 of 15:00. Silver King & El Texano showed their capabilities as a team and dominated the match early on. Los Cowboys showed why they were a top tag team, while Gran Hamada & Kendo seemed more like two random workers put together. Kendo was a luchador from the Dominican Republic, who actually started becoming more well known and popular because of his tours for this league, as the Japanese crowds seemed to love him. He wasn't the most all-round worker, but he was athletic and the crowd liked his tendencies to mix in quite a bit (too much) of comedy into his work. King and Hamada provided the best work in this match. Hamada always seemed to mix things up, as you'd never really know what he would come up with in his matches; and he always seemed to give a strong effort. This made him an exciting worker to watch. As the match progressed, the spots got more spectacular. Hamada landed on his feet after he was on the receiving-end of a back body drop attempt; and King took a Jerry Estrada-esque bump to the floor. Texano executed a piledriver on Hamada on the floor, and it was sold well. In the end, Los Cowboys were simply too strong of a tag team, and they deservingly became the new tag team champions. Good match. ***¼

Show rating: 7.5/10.0. Very good show.

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