WCW/New Japan Supershow I

Legacy Review

WCW/New Japan Supershow I

March 21, 1991 from the Tokyo Dome (aired in the US as a PPV in April)

This show was also known as Starrcade '91 in Tokyo Dome, which is the title on the ring skirts and mat. I'm pulling this out of the archives of New Japan World, which on the minus side means only Japanese commentary, but on the plus side includes complete matches and matches that were cut out on the US broadcast.

Animal Hamaguchi, Kengo Kimura, Osamu Kido and Kantaro Hoshino def Hiro Sato, Tatutoshi Goto, Norio Honaga and Super Strong Machine in 10:12- This match was removed on the US version. Full disclosure: I've been watching New Japan regularly for about 5 years as of 2021 and know the recent history before that pretty well, but this is pretty far back and I honestly have little idea who most of these guys are, and obviously commentary in Japanese is little help, so I'm going to summarize as best I can. Machine's team are clearly the heels as they do the Suzuki-Gun jump at the bell. Hamaguchi and Machine work in the ring while everyone brawls outside before order is restored. Hoshino (in distinctive teal blue trunks) is the designated "crank up the juice" guy in the match. Machine misses a headbutt off the second rope and the faces trade dropping elbows on him. The heels take turns on running corner shots and hit a spike piledriver. They donnybrook and go into a good closing stretch with near falls, ending when Machine lariatos his own teammate, who gets pinned. Usual solid New Japan multi-man tag opener. **1/2

 

Shiro Koshinaka, Kuniaki Kobayashi and Takayuki Iizuka def Tim Horner, "Flyin'" Brian Pillman and "The Z-Man" Tom Zenk in 12:10- WCW ref Nick Patrick is officiating this one. Interesting to see Horner getting a spot on the WCW side of the card as he was hardly a name. Zenk and Pillman were familiar teammates, as this is about a year removed from their US tag title run. Cautious feeling out start. Zenk hits a trio of dropkicks, then eats a spinning heel kick from Kobayashi. Pillman comes out of the chutes blazing away with chops but gets caught in the heel corner. A Koshinaka hip attack sends Pillman over the top and out, but he pops up and comes back in with a springboard lariato! Springboard reverse crossbody on Iizuka for 2. Zenk enzuguri for 2. Koshinaka puts Zenk in a cobra twist. Pillman and Zenk start working their old double teams on Iizuka and he goes home country wrestler in peril. Pillman places him on the top rope and dropkicks him to the floor, then follows up with a crossbody off the top to the floor! Horner/Pillman decapitation device for 2. Pilliman springboards to the top rope and hits a reverse big splash for 2. Horner does a reverse splash of his own off the top and it's crap. Stick to what you know, kid. Zenk piledriver for 2. Iizuka starts to bushido up off some chops and hits a double dropkick on Pillman and Zenk. Donnybrook! Iizuka hits a missile dropkick on Horner, then plants him with a dragon suplex for the pin. **3/4

 

Scott "Flash" Norton def The Equalizer in 2:23- Another match removed on the US broadcast. Equalizer is like a cross between the Ultimate Warrior and the Berzerker. This is an extended squash with Equalizer getting some token shots in while Norton stiffs the hell out of him. Norton hits a short clothesline and pulls Equalizer up out of the pin, then hits a horrible powerslam (Equalizer's fault, not Norton's) to win. The US audience didn't miss anything. 1/2*

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Jushin Thunder Liger (c) def Akira Nogami in 16:08- Liger's wearing green and gold tonight, a departure from his usual white and red. He's in his third junior title reign and already quickly becoming a legend. Akira had just returned from excursion and was in a gimmick where he dressed up like a kabuki actor. He's even got streamers shooting out of his hands like Spider-Man on his entrance, that's pretty cool. Liger comes out hot. A spinning heel kick sends Akira to the floor. Liger hops right up top and hits a cannonball senton to the floor! Back in Liger wraps Akira up with a sleeper and grapevine. Get your boards polished kids, we're going surfing! Akira punches out, then reverses a Liger snap mare into a hammerlock. Liger gets a drop toe hold and wraps up a modified surfboard with Akira's legs wrapped. He transitions into a camel clutch. Akira reverses into a camel clutch of his own! He lets go and hits a series of legdrops, then works Liger's arm a bit to cool things down for a minute. They crank up the speed and Liger dodges a senton. Akiro flips out and hits a Saito suplex. Liger backdrops Akira over the top to the floor. He sets up for a plancha, but Akira gets on the apron. Liger dropkicks him off, gives him a minute to get up, and goes for the plancha. Akira dropkicks him in midair on the floor! Both guys hurt their knees in that exchange. Once they get back in Akira gets the advantage working Liger's knee. Spinning toe hold, and a figure four! Liger reverses it. Akira stays on the knee and locks on a reverse half crab. Liger gets a desperation kick to Akira's knee. Slugfest. Liger with a Saito for 2. He props Akira up on the top rope but Akira headbutts him down. He goes for a splash off the top, but Liger gets his knees up! Akira flip over sunset for 2. Liger tries a suplex. Akira blocks it and rolls him over for a long 2 count. Akira German for 2. He goes for a dragon suplex, Liger blocks it and tries to roll him up, but Akira drops down on him for 2. Liger goes for a tombstone but his knee gives out. Akira gets right back on it. Liger small package for 2. Akira tries coming off the top again but Liger is five steps ahead, casually avoids it and even pushes Arkia on his way down to splatting on the mat. Liger bomb! A second one! AKIRA KICKS OUT! The crowd goes nuts for that. Liger sets up another one but Akira blocks it. Liger sets Akira on the top rope again. Avalanche DDT! The count is academic. Wonderful match. For the US PPV this was clipped down to an unconscionable four minutes. That's not a match, that's a highlight reel. ****

 

Arn Anderson and Barry Windham def Masahiro Chono and Masa Saito in 9:17- Chono was a major star on the rise in New Japan after re-retiring his mentor Lou Thesz. Chono and Windham have a cautious start. Corner break gamesmanship in both team's corners. Arn and Saito trade shoulderblocks. A Windham/Chono slugfest ends with a Windham back suplex. Chono transitions into headscissors. Windham hits a DDT. Arn goes up top and Chono slams him off. Chono comes off the top with a flying tackle. He starts hooking in the STF. Windham breaks it up and soaks in the crowd's boos. Chono dropkicks him to the floor. Tope suicida! Arn tries to catch Chono as he's getting back in but Chono fights him off and locks in a cobra twist. Windham comes off the top rope to break it up, and again revels in the crowd's disapproval. Windham with a suplex and floatover for 2. Arn hits the World's Greatest Spinebuster! That gets a 2 count. Arn knucklelocks with Chono to try to pin him, and looks to want to do the spot where he comes down and crotches himself on his opponent's knees, but Chono either misses the sign or just plain refuses to do it and they end up slowly standing up fighting for leverage instead. The Horsemen keep the ring cut off and Chono in trouble. Arn hooks in an abdominal stretch and tries to get leverage help from Windham but the ref is all over it. Chono counters a backdrop and gets a tag. Saito absorbs all Arn can throw at him and Saito suplexes for both Horsemen as things break down. Arn holds Saito as Windham hits him with a diving lariato (Hart Attack like setup) and that gets the pin. Disappointing considering who was in there. The Horsemen looked off their game for whatever reason. Jet lag, spent all night at one of the Tokyo Dome City arcades, rode the Thunder Dolphin too many times (yes I know that hadn't been built yet, go with me), whatever. **1/4

 

Title vs Title Match: WCW World Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers def IWGP Tag Team Champions Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki in 12:56- Nick Patrick is reffing again. Scott and Hase start. The crowd had been observing the usual polite Japanese silence for match starts so far, but they're going nuts as this one gets going. Scott grabs a takedown, cloverleafs Hase's legs and tries to get a leverage pin. Off a lockup Scott grabs Hase and deadlift flips him over. Hase tries a rollup, then hits a spinning heel kick right on the top of a ducking Scott's head. A huge Hase lariato sends Scott 360 and out. Rick tags in and wants to play. He gets Sasaki. After some mat wrestling and speed run Sasaki catches a leapfrogging Steiner and powerslams him. HUGE Sasaki lariato and Rick bumps on his head. Hase gets caught in the Steiner corner. Scott (big poppa) pumphandle slam. Scott props Hase up on the corner and hits an avalanche Olympic slam! Rick gut wrenches Hase onto his shoulder and runs him chest first upside down into the buckle pad! Steinerline! Scott belly to belly suplex for 2. Hase tries to chop back. Scott grabs him and gives him a DDT. Now Rick puts Hase up in the corner, and hits a top rope belly to belly suplex! They're mauling this guy. Hase ducks and hits a lariato. Scott grabs his legs to keep him from tagging. Rick German suplex that drops Hase right on his head. Rick laughs at it. Hase powers out of a chinlock and hits a belly to belly suplex. The Steiners still prevent a tag. It's a testament to how popular Hase was that the hugely over Steiners can work like heels here and get some Tokyo boos. Rick wraps up Hase's arm in a crossface-like position. Hase wrestles out, grabs Rick's legs and gives him a giant swing! Yes, a Cesaro swing. On a guy probably at least 50 pounds bigger than him. That's awesome. Rick tags out but Hase still can't. Scott with a double underhook powerbomb! Sasaki saves the pin. Hase fights off a double team and hits a uranagi! Tag! Sasaki dropkicks for everyone. He powerslams Rick but Scott breaks the pin up. Hase sits on the top rope facing out. Sasaki comes up and REVERSE SUPERPLEXES HASE ONTO RICK! There's your holy shit spot of the match. Hase hits a northern lights suplex. Rick kicks out! Double lariato! Scott's in and hits a tiltawhirl slam. Sasaki DDT on Scott, then he lifts Scott up in an electric chair. Hase gets on the top rope preparing some kind of finisher, but Rick knocks Scott off Sasaki's shoulders and slams Hase off the top. Now Scott lifts Sasaki up in an electric chair. Rick bulldog off the top rope! Frankensteiner! 3 count, and the Steiners win the IWGP tag titles! Fatnastic match. Physical, good mat wrestling, and a well thought out layout. BUT, even as a giant Steiners and Japanese strong style fan, not quite as good as its reputation in my humble opinion. It's great, but there's better Steiners matches out there. ****1/4

 

El Gigante def Big Cat Hughes in 2:16- WCW's Randy "Pee Wee" Anderson is handling this one. He and Gigante make a big show of the prematch check to show the size difference, even comparing hand sizes. I gotta say, Gigante's over in Tokyo. He dances around a bit before the lockup, then scoops Hughes up (a 300+ pounder himself), carries him around and slams him. Hughes eye pokes. Gigante no sells punches. Not sure if that's better or worse than his usual *ahem* unique selling. He pounds Hughes' back with clubbing blows. He cinches up a suplex and plays to the crowd forever before hitting it. Ugly "jumping" big boot. That's probably as close as Gigante's ever gotten to a dropkick. The claw (or BRAIN CLAW according to commentary) finishes it. What you'd expect. The crowd was into it and it was in the Tokyo Dome so I'll be generous. 1/4*

 

Big Van Vader and Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow def Doom in 13:17- This is another match cut off the US version, probably because of Doom's breakup, which for US audiences was the previous month at Wrestle War. Remember, there was no internet back then to easily keep up with international promotions, it was mostly magazines and tape trading. Tiger Hattori is your referee for this one. Vader's in a full mask and Bigelow's going sleeveless. Reed and Vader start. Vader potato shots. Reed fights back. Vader charges and SMASHES into Reed! Full scale football contact there. Short clothesline. Vader charges the corner again but Reed pops out with a lariato. Reed slams Vader! Simmons takes some Vader potato shots before lifting him by the legs and spinebustering him! Simmons catches a Bigelow boot but eats an enzuguri. Bigelow and Vader avalanche Simmons. He's dead, Jim. Simmons dodges a Bigelow headbutt off the top rope. Shoulderblock standoff. Bigelow double lariato on Doom. Reed pulls the top rope down and Bigelow crashes to the floor. Simmons slams Bigelow on the floor. Doom starts hitting their power double teams. Simmons casually walks over Bigelow as he's going back to his corner. Reed swinging neckbreaker for 2. Huge Simmons standing lariato for 2. Doom keeps the ring cut in half. Bigelow desperation small package for 2. Reed slams him and hits an elbow off the second rope for a long 2 count. Simmons slips and falls after whipping Bigelow. Bigelow gives him a headbutt in the back and finally tags out. Vader/Reed slugfest. Stiff Vader lariatos. Reed hits a flying tackle and Simmons powerslams Vader for 2. Doom double suplex on Vader! Reed tries another tackle off the top rope but Vader dodges, hits a big splash, and gets the pin. After the bell Doom come to blows with each other and Reed walks out on Simmons. Fun power match with Doom tossing the superheavywights around like they were nothing. ***1/2

The Great Muta def Sting in 12:41- The legendary rivalry from Muta's 1989 US excursion is renewed. Hattori is reffing again. Muta lets some green mist out before the bell and jumps Sting. Handspring elbow. Backbreaker and Muta wants to end it early. He goes for the moonsault, sees Sting dodging and lands on his feet. Sting no sells a kick, so Muta keeps kicking until he goes down and rolls to the floor. Muta plancha! Then he lets off some random red mist in the air. Maybe there was a fly he was trying to kill. He tries coming off the top again but Sting counters with a jumping knee to the gut. Sting presses Muta, carries him around a bit, and drops him down to the floor! Sting with a plancha! Back in, Sting slows things down a bit with a front facelock. Speed run. Sting monkey flips Muta and he lands on his face. Muta grabs Sting's eyes and refuses to let go. Sting ducks a kick and faceplants Muta. They go outside again and Sting drops Muta on the guardrail. He goes for the Scorpion Death Lock in the ring. Muta fights being turned over and gets to the ropes. Another Muta eye rake. Snap mare and elbow drop for 2. Muta measured elbow to Sting's forehead. Commentary says ""WWF" and "Ultimate Warrior" so I assume they're talking about Sting's original run with Warrior in the Blade Runners. Sting dodges another handspring elbow. Muta dodges a Stinger splash! Another backbreaker and moonsault attempt. Sting gets his knees up. He tries another press but Muta falls on top of him for 2. Muta goes up for another go at the moonsault. Sting dropkicks him in the back and Muta falls crotch first on the turnbuckle. Sting goes up and hits a back superplex! That gets a 2 count. Double lariato! Both guys try dropkicks at the same time! Sting blocks a hiptoss and backslides for 2. Muta blocks a slam and gets a small package for 2. Another Scorpion attempt. Sting gets it fully applied but Muta immediately gets to the ropes. He goes for the Stinger splash again. Muta green mists him in midair! Springboard reverse crossbody, and Muta gets the pin! After the bell a pissed off Sting gives Muta the Stinger splash and puts him in the Scorpion until the other WCW wrestlers at ringside calm him down. Good stuff from two guys that knew each other very well, but it was missing that extra something to get it to the next level. ***1/2

 

Greatest 18 Club Championship: Riki Choshu (c) def Tiger Jeet Singh in 11:07- The Greatest 18 Club was New Japan's first Hall of Fame, and this short lived title was meant to symbolize the legacy of those legends. The title was created in February '91, Choshu was the first champion and this is the title's first defense. This is the last of the matches removed for the US broadcast because it's an all New Japan match. It's also being contested under some kind of hardcore or alternate rules- there's no ref in the ring, clearly anything goes, and the finish is a KO 10 count. Before the match Singh is jawing with the crowd, running around the ringside area and he knocks the ring announcer silly with his rubber rapier. Choshu jumps him and there's a brawl on the floor. As they get back in Singh takes control by whacking Choshu with the rapier handle, busting him open. Singh takes a couple of the corner pads partially off to expose the top rope turnbuckles, then chokes Choshu with one of the ropes from that. Forever. Choshu gets run into one of the exposed buckles and bleeds some more. He comes back with a big gut punch. Singh stops the comeback with a low blow, to the disapproval of the crowd. Choshu doesn't seem to be bleeding very much but there's already blood everywhere. He knocks Singh to the floor and rams him into the post, then gets the rapier and hits Singh with it. Singh's now busted open. As they get back in Singh has a spike in his hand and he pops Choshu with it. He digs the spike into Choshu's head. Choshu slowly fights Singh's hand down and pulls the spike out, then hits Singh with it. More low blows from both guys. Singh bites Choshu's cut. Chochu hits an enzuguri, literally the only wrestling move the entire match. And a second one. He wallops Singh from behind with a clothesline, Singh gets 10 counted and it's over. They continue fighting after the bell. On the plus side, they had good intensity and sold this as an almost real brawl. On the other side, pretty much everything else. Choshu would hold the title until August '92 when he dropped it to the Great Muta, who promptly retired it to focus on the IWGP Heavyweight title, which he also held at that time. New Japan wouldn't have another secondary title until the also short lived U-30 (Under 30) championship was created in 2003. **

 

A little necessary title lineage background before we get to the main event: In January '91 WCW left the NWA and started new title lineages under the WCW name. However, the NWA, not having much of any other option, still recognized Ric Flair as their world champion. The NWA name was much more well known than WCW in Japan, so for the home crowd the following match was presented as Flair defending only the NWA title. But WCW was trying to completely separate from anything NWA related, and if pushed still considered the WCW and NWA titles the same thing, so for the American audience this was Flair defending the WCW world title. Clear? I hope so, because in the immortal words of Amy Pond...

Title vs Title Match: IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tatsumi Fujinami def NWA World Heavyweight Champion "Nature Boy" Ric Flair in 23:06- The ring announcer has a bandage on his head after Singh's attack. The ring's stained with blood after the last match. Randy Anderson is the official referee for the match, but Tiger Hattori is also present. Flair and Fujinami go nose to nose before Flair offers a handshake, which is accepted. Both guys hit the ropes, we have a WOOOOOO and we're off. Some corner break gamesmanship early. Shoulderblock tradeoff. Fujinami back suplexes out of a headlock. He goes for the dragon sleeper early! Flair fights it getting locked in all the way and makes it to the ropes. Flair with a kick in the corner and the match's first chops. Chop exchange. A hiptoss and dropkick send Flair to the floor. Fujinami works a headlock with some Flair spots in between. Flair backs Fujinami into the corner and hits more chops. Fujinami with a backdrop. Now Flair back suplexes out of a headlock. There's a bad miscommunication where it looks like Fujinami's going for a lariato but Flair's nowhere near in position. Flair realizes and quickly covers by giving Fujinami a "come on!". Flair starts knee work out of nowhere, like he hit fast forward on the match somewhere. He's going to something familiar trying to make the match work when it clearly isn't to this point. Kneebreaker. Snap mare and kneedrop. Fujinami gets a drop toe hold with a great Flair sell. Fujinami hooks in a Scorpion! Flair sells it for a while, content I think to milk this as they try to find some footing. Fujinami transitions into more of a cloverleaf, then almost a Mutalock, then a camel clutch. Flair flips him over to get out. Fujinami lariato for 2. Flair hits an inverted atomic drop and goes up top. Fujinami goes to slam him, but Flair slips off and onto the apron. He quickly recovers by snapping Fujinami's throat over the top rope. It's definitely one of those nights. Flair pulls Fujinami out, gives him a guardrail shot and flips him over the rail. Fujinami stays on the floor a long time while Flair gives Pee Wee some what for like he's Tommy Young. Once he's back in Flair chops him then waits forever for Fujinami to chop back. Still a lot of obvious spot discussions happening. Flair swinging neckbreaker for 2. Double underhook suplex for 2. Fujinami chops back. Flair goes to the ol' eye poke. He goes up top again and this time successfully gets slammed off. Flair flip! Fujinami dropkicks him off the apron. Flair ducks under to blade because why not. Guardrail shots for Flair. Fujinami pounds away on the cut. Flair Flop! That got a pop from the Tokyo crowd, nice. Flair catches a boot, but Fujinami gives him an enzuguri with an amazing Flair flop like sell. Flair goes into full begging off mode as the match finally gets into a bit of a groove. Flair gets a knee to the gut and chops. Slugfest. Fujinami's chest is beet red. Another Flair flip and he gets tied up in the tree of woe! Fujinami flips out of a suplex and gets a roll up for 2. Saito suplex and cover, Flair gets a foot on the rope. Fujinami drop toe holds Flair into the ref! Fujinami gets several quick pin attempts but there's no ref to count. Flair charges and Fujinami backdrops him over the top rope! Remember that. As Cowboys radio play by play legend Brad Sham says, circle that play. Fujinami suplexes Flair back in, wraps up a cobra twist roll up, and Tiger Hattori comes in and counts the 3! Huge celebration for Fujinami. We can just get a glimpse of Flair arguing with Anderson and pointing to the top rope, but Fujinami is awarded both belts. The match was two legends that struggled mightily to get on the same page, sadly something they would struggle with again at their Superbrawl rematch in the US. **1/2

OK, the title situation. For the home crowd and on New Japan TV, Fujinami was the winner and new NWA world champion as well as IWGP Heavyweight champion. But for the US broadcast and on WCW TV in the US, they announced that Flair was the winner by DQ due to the over the top rope throw and was still WCW world champion. The NWA would continue to recognize Fujinami as champion until Flair won the rematch at Superbrawl, but for WCW Flair's reign was unbroken. And if you think all this is confusing, just wait until I start reviewing the shows with the WCW International World title. Oh yeah.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: We had peaks and valleys here for sure, but overall it's a fine first joint promotion show between WCW and NJPW, with a good and large Tokyo Dome crowd. Definitely check out the junior and tag title matches. It was successful enough that both companies agreed to do it again in '92, but this time on a brand new date that would end up becoming the cornerstone of the New Japan calendar: January 4th.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B