This was the very first HUSTLE show, an attempt to launch a Sports Entertainment style company in Japan. The line-up of this show, including Dusty Rhodes, Goldberg and Mil Mascaras, sounded so wonderfully random I couldn't resist
Low Ki vs MIKAMI vs Jun Kasai vs King Adamo
Interesting choice of opener, with three junior heavyweights and one large savage. Within 20 seconds of the match starting, MIKAMI hits a dive on Adamo, which is totally missed by the cameras. The match soon settles into a vague structure of generally only having two guys in the ring at any one time, working a nice series of high-flying spots. Despite primarily being involved in comedy elements here, Adamo shows he can go, with a nice Stinger splash in the corner and a general willingness to let the smaller men look good. MIKAMI was the only guy I'd not seen before and he was impressive, hitting a nice looking Swanton from a ladder and taking a huge bump to the floor from the top rope following a Low Ki kick to the head. It ends following a Ki Krusher on Kasai to give Low Ki the win in a fun opener.
Zebra Man vs Ikuto Hidaka
Zebra Man seems to be a spin off from a movie, though I don't know who is under the mask. This is essentially a competitive squash to let the larger Zebra Man look good, with Hidaka getting in flashes of swanky offence and trying to weaken the bigger guy with kicks to the head. Zebra Man looks decent and hit some nice offence, with a wheelbarrow facebuster looking particularly devastating. The end result is never in any doubt, Zebra Man winning following a torture rack into a powerbomb for the three.
Satoshi Kojima & Kaz Hayashi vs El Solar & Dos Caras Jr
Jr is the wrestler now known as Alberto Del Rio, but you, you already know that (I'm so sorry, couldn't resist). Neither team really works heel in this match, which makes it feel a little disjointed, but the in-ring action is still pretty solid. Solar works an early mat exchange with Hayashi, before Caras Jr tags in. Jr lands on his feet on a missed moonsault attempt, but walks right into a sharp looking Hayashi superkick. It feels odd at first to equate Jr to Del Rio, until he hits that familiar step-up enzuigiri on Kojima, and suddenly it falls into place. A series of dives ends with a tope from Kaz. Back in the ring, Solar goes back to the mat with Hayashi, locking in a Mexican surfboard, which he rolls around the ring for added effect, before tying Kaz up in another submission hold. Dos Jr hits a nice press slam into a German suplex for 2 on Hayashi, but Kojima getting tagged in changes the complection of the match, as he can't be pushed around as easily, forcing the Mexican team to wear him down with a series of well-executed double team moves. Hayashi interjects to help his partner, allowing Kojima to hit the Koji Cutter and the lariat on El Solar for the win.
Shinjiro Otani & Mastato Tanaka vs The Predator & Kevin Randleman
With two American's with MMA experience (Randleman being a former UFC champion) in the ring with the hard-hitting Emblem team, it'll comes as no surprise to learn this is a pretty stiff encounter, as neither team is afraid to lay in the moves. The overall effect of this is that it feels like the two teams are trying to just wear the opposition out. Randleman is pretty surprising here: not only has he great presence and in-ring charisma, he also is quite impressive in the ring, albeit lacking a bit of polish. During the match he hits a nice springboard moonsault and a decent rana. Tanaka and Otani are predictably good working together, whilst the real difference maker in the match is the Predator, who dominates proceedings so much that you wonder why the WWE made him into the infinitely less interesting Sylvester Terkay. His size and power mean that Otani and Tanaka can take control when they use their speed, but when the Predator catches them, they're in trouble. This is their downfall: after not tagging out, Tanaka gets levelled by the Predator and a monster top rope kneedrop looks like it caves his face in. One huge musclebuster later and the Predator picks up the win. Good, hard-hitting action.
Giant Silva vs Kohei Sato & Katsuhisa Fujii
Handicap squash match. Not much to report here, Silva isn't very good and Sato is far too good to be wasted in this manner. Silva wins after chokeslams to both men.
Shinya Hashimoto vs Vader
Vader pretends to be about to throw his mask into the crowd, but drops it to the mat instead for some easy heat. Things are pretty even to start, until Vader starts badmouthing Hash before levelling him and nailing a splash for two. Hashimoto has one shoulder heavily taped, which Vader works on to remove his striking threat, though this just means that Hash starts to kick the crap out of him instead. Hashimoto gets a cross-armbreaker before both guys head to the outside. Vader misses a chairshot which allows Hash to hit a DDT on the floor for a (heavily booed) countout win. Too short to be any good, but I quite enjoyed the strike exchanges while they lasted. I suspect, not being a puro expert, that these two will have had many better matches when both (especially Vader) were younger and fitter.
Steve Corino, Tom Howard & Dusty Rhodes vs Mil Mascaras, Dos Caras & Sicodelico Jr
Mascaras has a reputation for working his own style of match and not being overly willing to take bumps. This match will do nothing to damage that reputation, as Corino finds himself working for two during their exchanges, stooging like a madman for the older masked man. In fact Corino is a heat machine throughout, tagging himself in to steal the spotlight when the audience anticipate some Rhodes/Mascaras action and yelling the names of other wrestlers on the show before stealing their signature moves, with both Hashimoto's DDT and Ogawa's STO getting used. On the luchador team, both Caras and Sicodelico equip themselves well, Sicodelico looking especially good with an attempted spinning elbow, while Caras also looks good against Howard (who, in fairness, does everything in his power to make Caras look good). Mascaras, meanwhile, seems content to hit Corino with flying forearms, before hitting Corino with a top rope crossbody for three. It's not unfair to say the best parts of this match were the bits without Mascaras. His partners both looked good and, while Big Dust was used sparingly, Corino and Howard worked hard to give the match some heat. The only real complaint is teasing Dusty vs Mascaras and not delivering, but it was perfectly watchable nonetheless
Mark Coleman vs Toshiaki Kawada
Sadly, this is one of those wrestling/MMA hybrid matches that are mainly worked on the mat, without being terribly interestlng. There are some good bits, including Coleman powering Kawada up from the mat to counter a choke attempt, but this is a whole lot of nothing. It's also very short, Kawada getting an anklelock about 5 minutes in, which prompts the referee to call for the bell, without Coleman winning in an ending that benefits noone.
Bill Goldberg vs Naoya Ogawa
I recall not liking Ogawa in the Zero-One match I reviewed back in September, so my hopes weren't high for this. However, I really quite enjoyed this, largely due to the performance of Goldberg. For a guy who wasn't required to sell much in his WCW days, he made Ogawa look immense here. Ogawa at one point locks in a leglock for several minutes, and what keeps it interesting is the selljob from Goldberg, punching the mat to try and block out the pain and slapping Ogawa to get him to break the hold. It's a shame then that the ending is so disappointing. The ref gets bumped during an Ogawa sleeper, meaning no-one counts following a Goldberg spear. Ogawa hits an STO, then another, which gives me flashbacks to that wretched Tom Howard match where Ogawa hit seven STO's in a row. Thankfully, Giant Silva intervenes, hitting Ogawa, allowing Goldberg to nail another spear and the Jackhammer for the win. Screwiness aside, this was a fine main event.
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