WAR 2nd Anniversary Show 07/07/1994

Ashura Hara, Jinsei Shinzaki & John Tenta vs Jado, Gedo & Hiromichi Fuyuki

This was pretty fun. The Jado/Gedo/Fuyuki team attack at the bell and isolate Hara, with a nice triple team seeing Jado and Gedo elevating him for a top rope seated senton by Fuyuki. This is followed by a triple team powerbomb before we clip. We return to Tenta doing some awesome wobbling selling as the opposition try to down him, before he catches Gedo on a crossbody and hits the splash for 3.

Koji Ishinriki, Koki Kitahara & Takashi Ishikawa vs Akio Kobayashi, Koji Kitao & Masaaki Mochizuki

This is pretty much all clipped out. Kitao looks slow and lumbering on offence, which contrasts with Mochizuki, who blitzes Ishinriki with a flurry of kicks before Kitahara rolls him up for the win.

Arashi, Kendo Nagasaki & Masashi Aoyagi vs Animal Hamaguchi, Nobukazu Hirai & Shoichi Funaki

Bit of a mess this one. I did enjoy Nagasaki tying Funaki up in knots on the mat, and I liked how fired up Hamaguchi was when he finally tagged in, but this dragged even with clipping. Hirai gets a nearfall by German suplexing Aoyagi, but eats a kick to the head to be eliminated.

Atushi Onita, Bam Bam Bigelow & Genichiro Tenryu vs The Warlord, Chris Jericho & Vampiro

Really enjoyed this. There were some nice little touches, like Jericho controlling Tenryu, only to get felled by one vicious chop. Also loved the Warlord posing, only for Bigelow to interrupt it with an enzuigiri to the head. Vampiro is isolated and beaten before we clip, returning with Warlord catching an apron dive by Tenryu, slamming him onto a table. Jericho goes too short on a Lionsault, hitting Onita in the face with his knee. Tenryu and Onita hit a botched double team powerbomb on him, and as it all breaks down , Onita nails another powerbomb on Jericho for the win

Jinsei Shinzaki, John Tenta & Ashura Hara vs Koji Ishinriki, Koki Kitahara & Takashi Ishikawa

Matches are all full from this point on. Loved the Hara/Ishikawa section at the start, just two stocky bulls going at each other. The Ishinriki/Kitahara/Ishikawa squad looked more impressive here than in the first round, with Kitahara planting Shinzaki with a massive German suplex. He also punishes Shinzaki with kicks, which seem to bust him open from the mouth. The end sees Hara and Ishikawa resume hostilities, with Ishikawa levelling Hara with a big clothesline, only for Hara to hit one of his own for the win.

Bam Bam Bigelow, Genichiro Tenryu & Atushi Onita vs Arashi, Kendo Nagasaki & Masahi Aoyagi

This one breaks down early, with Onita leading a big fight on the outside in the crowd. He ends up on the losing side of his fight with Nagasaki, who belts him with the ring bell and absolutely buries him with chairs. It’s a really fun scene. Back inside, Tenryu gets punished and isolated, loved him selling Aoyagi’s kicks to the chest with big bursts of spit. His team mates lure all the opposing team into the ring for a fight, which buys Tenryu some time to recover. By the time the ref has settled things down, Tenryu is sufficiently healthy to hit an enzuigiri on Arashi and tag Bam Bam. Bigelow blitzes Arashi and moonsaults him for the win. Really good bout.

Ultimo Dragon vs The Great Sasuke

This is for Dragon’s UWA middleweight title. This is a whole heap of fun, really felt like two guys going all out. They work a decent acrobatic series to start, but things heat up some more when Sasuke sends Dragon outside and nails a big Asai moonsault, landing in the crowd. Love the spot back inside where Dragon can’t superplex Sasuke, so instead dropkick’s him to the outside and nails his own massive Asai moonsault. Beautiful Tiger suplex by Dragon gets two. High spot of the night sees Sasuke send Dragon to the outside, and nail this nutty dive from the top turnbuckle to the floor, landing precisely between two guard rails. There’s an odd transition back to Dragon offence, as he gets fired into the ropes, and just runs at Sasuke and clubs his back. Bit out of nowhere. Ultimo nails a dropkick as Sasuke attempts a quebrada, and hits a corkscrew moonsault for the victory. Great match.

Bam Bam Bigelow, Genichiro Tenryu & Atushi Onita vs Jinsei Shinzaki, John Tenta & Ashura Hara

Loved the start of this, where Bigelow and Earthquake squared off. Fun big man stuff, with Bigelow failing to slam Quake, but somehow succeeding with a suplex, weakening him enough for a second slam to work. Really liked Tenryu and Hara facing off, just two stodgy guys exchanging blows. There’s fun little bits scattered throughout, like Onita failing with a DDT on Quake, who is too big to send down. Also loved the massive belly-to-belly suplex Tenta hits. Hara gets back in, and just gets worn down by Tenryu, who hacks away with some chops. A nasty pair to the throat see Hara in real trouble, and he gets isolated and worn down for the rest of the bout. He eats finishers from Bigelow and Onita, and only survives because of team-mates making the save. He kicks out of an Onita powerbomb, but foolishly doesn’t tag out when he has the chance. Bigelow interferes, drawing the partners into the ring, but this means Hara now has no-one to save him. A Tenryu powerbomb only gets 2, but an enzuigiri and another powerbomb win the match for Tenryu’s team. Probably the best match of the tournament.

Osaka Pro 2004 Super J Cup

Naomichi Marufuji vs Jun Kasai
This is the first of four first-round matches in the Super J cup tournament. I quite like what little I've seen of Kasai before, so this should be interesting. He looks pretty good here, and is quite dominant at first, nailing some DDT's and getting two from a top rope splash. I also loved him hitting a low blow then quickly spinning Marufuju around to disorient him before getting two off a backslide. They work at quite a fast pace, both trying for rollups to get the swift win - sensible in a tournament setting, before Marufuji gets Sliced Bread for the win.

Goa vs Garuda
I have seen one Gaurda match before and zero Goa matches, so going into this blind. Garuda has a great look and hits a nice suicide dive early, so I've taken to him already. Goa is stockier and goes to the chinlock pretty swiftly into his offensive run. Not too sure about the flow of this match: Garuda breaks out of a sharpshooter and within 30 seconds is hitting a plancha on Goa, which seems too quick a transition. Falcon Arrow gets two for Garuda. Goa hit some power offense, including a Jackhammer for two, but Garuda ducks a Shining Wizard and gets the win following a rana. Their work was decent enough, but the match needed a bit better structure.

Wataru Inoue vs Kazuya Yuasa
These two face off before the introductions, so hopefully we'll see a bit of fire here. Yuasa wins the ensuing strike exchange with a nice big clothesline. Another strike exchange, which is one of my least favourite things in wrestling, follows. Inoue takes over with a largely pointless bit of matwork, before Yuasa suckers him in outside the ring and nails him with a dropkick as he dives from the apron. I like that a lot of Yuasa's offence involves some beefy blows, with uppercuts and clotheslines hurting Inoue. Yuasa does annoy me by twice going to an anklelock, despite having used no offence on Inoue's leg before. After a deathlock doesn't work, he doesn't go back to it either. After avoiding another Yuasa clothesline, Inoue locks in an Octopus Stretch for the win. This wasn't great.

Takehiro Murahama vs Taichi Ishikari
Ishikari goes on offence quickly here, levelling Murahama with dropkicks and a big German suplex for two. Again, makes sense to go for the quick win in a tournament. Murahama seems to be a bit of a striker, so he nails some stiff blows to take over. I get the impression he's the more favoured of the two, as Ishikari seems to go to quick offensice flurries when he gets an opening, as if he doesn't want to risk Murahama recovering. When he does hesitate, Murahama kicks him in the head to take over. Murahama seems confident on offence, blitzing Ishikari with kicks and, despite a few desperation roll ups by his opponent, quickly wins with a brainbuster. Really enjoyed this, told a good story of the overmatched guy trying to sneak a win against the odds.

Ofune vs Apple Miyuki
Joshi match here to break up the tournament matches. This really isn't very good and there is something quite annoying about Ofune. They run through a bunch of basic offence, though Miyuki at least shows fire with some stomps in the corner, and I did enjoy one submission hold she did from the corner. A guilotene choke gets the win for Ofune.

Tomohiro Ishii, MEN'S Teioh & MIKAMI vs Kintaro Kanemura, Azteca & Big Boss MA-G-MA
Kanemura has some bandaging on his neck, which is pretty distracting. I remember liking the one MIKAMI match I saw previously, and he's pretty slick here too. Both teams having a big powerhouse (Ishii and Kanemura) adds a fun element as their face-off leads to everything breaking down outside the ring. Back in, MIKAMI gets picked out, including taking a stepladder to the nuts from Kanemura. MA-G-MA gets great air hurling him across the ring with a butterfly suplex. The heat section on MIKAMI sees him getting pummelled by his three bigger opponents before the leads to Ishii clearing house like a beast. Huge superplex on Kanamura is impressive. We head into a hot finishing sequence, with MIKAMI taking top rope splashes from Azteca and MA-G-MA, which his partners break up on the pin, and Ishii kills Azteca with a snap powerbomb, also for two. The end sees Azteca hit in quick succession by a Miracle Ecstasy Bomb by Teioh, a swanton from a ladder by MIKAMI and finally a brainbuster by Ishii to finish him off. Great fun match here. Of note, the ref kept curiously jumping in the ring, like he was stomping ants. Very odd.

Ebessan vs Kuishinbo Kamen
Man, it takes these two forever to get to the ring. This is, as you'll know if you've heard of these two, a comedy match. This appears to be some kind of title defence by Ebessan. They run few a few of the usual comedy routines, wrestling in slo-mo, wrestling that turns into a dance routine etc. However, some wrestling does sneak through and it does end up being something resembling a match. I thought Ebessan hit a lovely Sky Twister Press, as did Kamen, who picked up the win with his.

Garuda vs Naomichi Marufuji
I liked Garuda, after a little bit of token matwork, just going "fuck it" and hitting a huge tope about a minute into the match. Garuda goes back to the matwork to ground Marufuji, but Marufuji is slightly quicker on the mat and takes over there. They end up outside, where Garuda seems more comfortable, hitting a decent Asai moonsault. Things really heat up from there, and the final few minutes, though maybe a bit too back-and-forth, were a lot of fun. Garuda hit a swank Dragon suplex for a very close two. He misses a 450 splash, but in turn avoids Sliced Bread from Marufuji, who instead quickly locks in a Majistral cradle for the win. Fun semi-final.

Takehiro Murahama vs Wataru Inoue
This was a fun match. Murahama spent a good proportion of this bout kicking Inoue to fuck, with some lightning fast kicks too much for the New Japan man. I especially liked Murahama teasing one type of kick, then nailing a different one when Inoue tried to block. Inoue's offence didn't seem convincing, despite him being given an even share of the bout, though a cross legged brainbuster looked pretty good. There was a great spot, where Inoue tried to block a top rope superplex by repeatedly hitting Murahama, who would just about hold on to the top rope, before eventually hitting the suplerplex. Murahama gets two from a brutal looking kick flurry, and shortly after wins with a brainbuster.

TAKA Michinoku & Shiryu vs Billy Ken Kid & Tigers Mask
This is a pretty fun tag match, largely due to the heeling of TAKA and Shiryu. They work over Billy Ken Kid to start, and do little annoying things like gouging at his face and trying to undo his mask. Just little dick moves. Shiryu in particular levels some stiff blows on Kid. We see a little friction in the heel team after some "face ducks and move hits partner instead" , but they manage to stay on the same page to work Kid over. TAKA keeps going to a crossface on BKK, which he'll repeat throughout the match. The hot tag to Tigers Mask sees some nice stereo dives by the faces. Tigers Mask gets a two count from a Tiger suplex, but Kid misses a 450 splash, before more stereo dives, this time from the heel team. The heel friction shows up again as Shiryu hits TAKA by accident with a leg lariat. TAKA tries to lock in another crossface on BKK, but it's not locked on properly and Kid rolls him up in a crucifix for the victory.

HEAT, KENTA & CIMA vs Jushin Liger, Jinsei Shinzeki & Super Delfin
Interesting battle of the three younger stars against the more established veterans. The youth clear the ring to start, and start working over Delfin, clearly seeing him as the weak link of the team. I loved HEAT just nailing Delfin with repeated dropkicks in the corner. Liger gets tagged in, and gets a surfboard on CIMA, and I just love Shinzeki coming in to stand guard, preventing CIMA's partners saving him with a magnificent grumpy look on his face. Liger is also magnificently surly in the match, seeing an attempt to break a pin coming, and immediately standing up and giving a non-too-subtle "up yours" gesture. Things start to break down, and the young guns hit a series of dives each. Shinzeki hitting the ropewalk on CIMA and KENTA at the same time is pretty swank. The end sequence is an exciting series of moves, but Delfin gets isolated trying the Delfin Clutch on CIMA and, after getting kicked to fuck, he gets hit with Schwein by CIMA for the win. This was a lot of fun.

Naomichi Marufuji vs Takehiro Murahama
The tournament final, and it's not the two most exciting guys in there (but then my personal choice of Garuda vs Kasai wouldn't have gone down too well). Unfortunately, whilst this is ok, these two seem to have a few communication issues, which makes this look a little sloppy. Curiously, given that I've found Marufuji the weaker half of his two earlier matches and have generally enjoyed Murahama in this tournament, it was Marufuji who impressed more here. I liked his gameplan of focusing on the legs of Murahama to remove his striking game, even if Murahama seemed unwilling to sell the damage as soon as it was his turn on offence. Marufuji even busted out the old Bret Hart ringpost figure four. They tease a superplex to the floor, but instead Murahama takes a nice bump to the floor before kicking the leaping Marufuji in mid air, which looked good. In the ring, Murahama gets two off a brainbuster, before Marufuji also gets two from Sliced Bread #2. The end sees Marufuji hit Sliced Bread again, this time from the top rope, to pick up the victory. This had a few good moments, but didn't really come together well.