WCW/New Japan Supershow II

Legacy Review

WCW/New Japan Supershow II

January 4, 1992 from the Tokyo Dome

Once again this is from the NJPW World archives, so only Japanese commentary but it also has the full card, a trade I happily make. Like the first joint show this was edited down into a 2 hour WCW PPV for the US market. The name of this show in Japan was Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome. It's starting a brand new tradition in New Japan- the very first January 4th Tokyo Dome show, an annual event still going strong that about 15 years after this took on the name we know it by today: Wrestle Kingdom.

Black Cat def Hiroyoshi Yamamoto in 10:28- Yamamoto is still in his Young Lion phase. You might know him by the name he took after coming back from excursion in '95: Hiroyoshi Tenzan. We JIP (join in progress) the match with Yamamoto hitting a German suplex and diving headbutts for 2. He slaps Cat silly. Cat comes back with a stiff clubbing blow to the back and a DDT for 2. Flapjack! Cat runs Yamamoto upside down into the corner, then powerslams him. Leg submission hold tradeoff. Cat Saito suplex for 2. Yamamoto dodges a senton and hits a headbutt off the top for 2. Cat flash small package for 2. Yamamoto backslide for 2. Cat hits a senton off the second rope but is slow to cover and Yamamoto kicks out. A Cat avalanche DDT off the top finishes it at about 6 minutes shown. I liked what made it to TV, which was your usual "Young Lion shows the appropriate fighting spirit before losing" match. That Tenzan guy turned out OK. **3/4

 

Kuniaki Kobayashi and Osamu Kido def Kengo Kimura and Kantaro Hoshino in 11:54- Like the undercard tags on the previous show this is a group of guys I know next to nothing about so I'll do my best and apologies if I get some names mixed up. This match is also JIP'd, coming in with Hoshino working Kido's leg. Hoshino hits a kneedrop off the top rope. Kobayashi gives Hoshino the ol' feet neck snap that ZSJ does today. Kimura and Kobayashi trade kicks. Kimura with a powerbomb for 2. Hoshino hits a missile dropkick off the top and we're donnybrooking. Kido wears Hoshino down and rolls him up for the pin at about 6 minutes shown again. Solid looking stuff. **1/2

 

Jushin Thunder Liger, Akira Nogami and Masashi Aoyagi def Hiro Saito, Norio Honaga and Super Strong Machine in 15:12- Saito, Honaga and Machine are part of a heel stable called Raging Staff. Honaga is on his second run as IWGP Junior champion, while at the time this show took place Liger was WCW Light Heavyweight Champion (which he dropped to Brian Pillman in their Superbrawl II classic before this show aired in the US, but it's OK because he'd won the IWGP Junior title back by then too). Purple and white are your Liger gear colors tonight. Another match JIP with Saito working Akira over as we join. Akira reverses a whip and hits a corner dropkick. The faces do the drumming spot on Saito's back, a Japanese tradition carried on today by CHAOS. Liger hits a senton and moonsault off the second rope for 2. Akira almost misses a short range elbow off the top rope. Saito hair pulls out of a cobra twist but Akira keeps him from tagging. After a single leg crab Saito hits a pop up spinebuster on Liger and tags out. Huge Machine delayed suplex. Rivals Honaga and Liger are in together. Honaga diving lariato off the top for 2. Liger hits a tiltawhirl backbreaker, followed by a double underhook superplex. Akira tries for a dragon suplex but Honaga low blows him. Spike piledriver on Akira for 2. Machine gets pounded down in the face corner, and they turn the tables by hitting him with their own spike piledriver! Liger tries to slam Machine but he blocks it and turns it into a snap suplex. Honaga and Saito try to lift Liger, but he shifts in midair and dropkicks both of them! Aoyagi kicks for everyone until Machine lariatos him. He dodges a Machine headbutt off the top rope, and Liger flies into camera with his own illegal dive onto Machine from the top! Akira messes everything up for the faces, dropkicking Machine right into his own corner and letting him tag, then getting caught with a double team powerbomb. Everyone in the pool! Akira just kicks out of a Saito senton off the second rope. He reverses a hold and hits the dragon suplex for the pin at about 9 minutes showed. The usual fun New Japan undercard trios tag match. Wish we could have seen the first act. ***

 

The Enforcers def Michiyoshi Ohara and Shiro Koshinaka in 12:32- Interestingly, the Enforcers were former WCW tag champs, and by the time this show aired in the US Arn had already won the tag titles again with a different partner: Bobby Eaton. This is our first complete match of the night. Arn offers a handshake and it's taken. Zbyszko and and Ohara start. I sense some stalling coming. Zbyszko plays some mind games pushing out of a rope break. Ohara gets an armdrag and Zbyszko stops to think. They crank up the speed and Zbyszko misses a dropkick, then pops up and PUSHES Ohara hard into the heel corner and tags. Arn and Ohara trade arm wringers. Good Arn/Koshinaka back and forth. Arn hits a Mr. Perfect like neck snap and DDT. Zbyszko gets hip tossed and pissed off. Koshinaka/Zbyszko shenanigans with chokes and hair pulls. Zbyszko is on it tonight, selling everything all the way up to the Tokyo Dome cheap seats. Crowd's not reacting to it much at all though. Koshinaka dropkicks send Arn scrambling. Arn suckers Ohara into a test of strength and kicks him down. Ohara slowly comes back and pushes Arn down. Ohara tries to slam out of an armbar, but Arn turns it into a headscissors. More Zbyszko super selling of a headscissors. Koshinaka hits a suplex with Zbyszko swinging his legs the whole way over. They look like they get a little lost, so Zbyszko smartly pushes into his corner and tags Arn to reset. Koshinaka goes in peril. The heels wrap him up in Boston crabs and an abdominal stretch with the guy on the apron providing illegal leverage. Koshinaka counters a backdrop, tags and Ohara goes on a hot tag run. He drops multiple elbows on Zbyszko that pop the crowd, then an elbow off the top for 2. Koshinaka hip attacks for both heels. Ohara slams both guys but tries to cover the illegal man and Arn ambushes him. Zbyszko gives him a knee in the back on a rope run. Arn hits the World's Greatest Spinebuster! That gets the pin. It was on the cusp of being good. Zbyszko and Arn were clearly trying, with Zbyszko selling like mad and Arn putting on his usual clinic on tag wrestling strategery. The New Japan guys were more going through the motions, and the crowd wasn't into it at all. **3/4

 

Dusty & Dustin Rhodes def Masa Saito and Kim Duk in 14:23- This is one of Dusty's first post-retirement special appearance tag matches. Duk is a Zainichi Korean (Japanese citizen of Korean descent) and a career midcard journeyman, nowhere near on the status level of Mr. Saito or Dusty. He wrestled in mid-'80s WWF under the name Tiger Chung Lee. Duk and Dustin start. Saito and Dusty tease letting it break down early. Dustin armdrags. Criss cross. They badly mistime a leapfrog spot. Dustin hits a flying headscissors and another armdrag. A Dustin dropkick barely grazes Duk but he sells it anyway and falls to the floor. Duk comes back with some kneelifts. He wants to tag out but Saito tells him to keep going. Dusty tags in, throws Duk into his corner, and demands Saito tag in. Saito obliges and for just about the first time tonight the crowd makes some real noise in anticipation of the legends hooking up. Chop exchange. They move onto the raised entrance ramp. Dusty slams Saito on the ramp and drops an elbow. Saito comes back in, begs off, offers a handshake and bows. To the shock of no one it's a RUSE and he kicks Dusty when he sees an opening. He hair pulls Dusty into an armbar. Now Duk chooses not to tag in. Dusty boogies up with some headbutts and hits a suplex for 2. Duk comes in and locks on the Oriental Nerve Pinch of Double Fisting +1. The heel team tries a double team, but Dusty dodges and Saito lariatos Duk. Tag. Dustin diving lariato for 2 before getting trapped in the heel corner. Double suplex on Dustin. Duk piledriver for 2. He dodges a Dustin crossbody and Dustin rolls onto the ramp. Dusty blocks so he can get back in. Back to the nerve pinch. Duk goes up top. Dustin catches and slams him, then gets some offense in before tagging out. Rhodes double team arm work on Saito. Saito counters with his namesake suplex. A second one. Dusty breaks the pin up. Midring collision. Dustin beats Duk down, and after a little back and forth hits the bulldog to win. Not a lot of "there" there. *1/2

Tony Halme def Scott "Flash" Norton in 8:41- Halme is better known to US fans as the short lived WWF Finnish buzzsaw Ludwig Borga. He's in black jeans, and I don't know if it's the difference in ring gear or just a funky memory, but to me he looks way bigger here than in his WWF run. One downside to watching this on NJPW World is all the entrances are cut off, and during in-ring intros for this match there's a quick shot of the stage that really makes me wish they weren't because it looks pretty awesome. Have to dig up the US version for that. Halme gets some body shots in the corner on a rope break. Norton reverses and hits chops, followed by a corner whip and avalanche. The crowd is into this match more as they have been all night so far, cheering Norton and booing almost any Halme offense. Long sequence where they trade working headlocks. Norton hits a couple of big football tackles. Halme no sells a back elbow so Norton gives him a huge lariato. Halme's got a small cut on his forehead. Norton works a chinlock and neck wringer, which he twists into a hangman's neckbreaker for 2. Halme blocks a slam and hits more body punches. Samoan drop. Crossbody avalanche in the corner. Norton ducks a short lariato and hits his own. Backdrop for 2. Alabama slam for 2. He goes up top. Halme shakes the rope and Norton falls down and crotches himself. Halme slams him off, goes up himself, and hits a lariato off the top to win. Blech. The crowd might have been into it but I sure wasn't. Funnily enough these guys would end up teaming up and winning the IWGP tag titles later in the year. 3/4*

Shinya Hashimoto def Bill Kazmaier in 8:37- Kazmaier's push from '91 had mostly flamed out by this point. Hashimoto missed the '91 show, but he was another young star on the rise to eventual New Japan legend status. Kazmaier shows his one positive attribute, strength, early, throwing Hashimoto out of the initial lockup and deadlift bodyslamming him. Hashimoto tries some kicks that Kazmaier no sells. Kazmaier strikes with an elbow that Hashimoto does a delayed sell of, then rolls out like he just took the strongest punch in the history of man. The camera goes to a super wide shot for a while, which is probably for the best. Hashimoto reverses a corner whip and lays in some kicks. Kazmaier pops back up with no selling and we have another reset. More very bland Kazmaier offense. He hits a backdrop that Hashimoto took forever to work his way over for. Kazmaier powerslam for 2. He slaps on a bear hug, like this match hasn't been slow enough already. He lets that go and hooks Hashimoto in the torture rack. Hashimoto escapes and takes Kazmaier down with a couple of leg sweeps. He rolls through some offense with Kazmaier barely selling. Spinning kicks get 2. DDT for 2. Hashimoto plants him with a huge jumping DDT and good night. Oil and water. Kazmaier sucked in general anyway. Only the end run of Hashimoto offense saved this from getting DUD'd. According to cagematch.net, this was Kazmaier's last listed wrestling match ever. 1/4*

Big Van Vader and El Gigante double countout in 4:49- From Kazmaier to Gigante. Just great. I wish someone could tell Vader to let loose like Gigante was Ken Shamrock. Vader is going sans mask tonight. The crowd loves him. Lockup and shoulderblock standoffs. Gigante hits some punches in the corner. Vader turns him around and goes to work with corner shots. There's definitely some potatoes in there. Vader hits a 3 point stance avalanche. He waistlocks Gigante and tries for a German. There is no way in hell Gigante was physically capable of doing that, so Vader trips him down instead. Big splash for 2. Gigante gets a boot up in the corner on another charge and goes back on offense. He's laying in his punches more than before, Vader might have actually gotten a rise out of him with those stiff shots. He locks in the claw. Vader backs up into the ropes. Gigante lariato. Vader goes 360 over and onto the ramp off a back elbow. They brawl on the ramp and Vader hits a couple of avalanches while Gigante's against the ropes before they both get counted out. Weak. Vader pulls Gigante over his entrance helmet and gives him a face full of steam. OK, that's funny. They keep weakly brawling all the way to the back. What a waste of Vader. 1/2*

Antonio Inoki def Hiroshi Hase in 10:09- As far as the Japanese crowd is concerned, God himself just stepped into that ring. Hase was also a popular fan favorite. Here's an interesting aside- both these wrestlers are to date the only Japanese wrestlers to have turned to a successful political career, with both having served in the House of Counselors (rough equivalent of a US Senator), and Hase is still currently in office in the House of Representatives. Feeling out start. Hase slaps but doesn't get a reaction. Mat wrestling stalemate. Both guys try to get a takedown, with Hase winning. Hase hits a snap belly to belly suplex! Inoki does what I assume is a little trash talking. He grabs a rear choke and Hase almost instantly drops like a Lebron James flop. The match stops for a moment as ref Tiger Hattori gives Hase time to recover. Inoki eventually has enough and runs in with a cartwheel kick! Inoki double underhook suplex for 2. He hooks in another rear choke. Hase quickly gets to the ropes. Inoki pounds away with straight rights but Hase starts getting fired up off them. The trade some unique simultaneous leg work holds. Hase maneuvers into a Mutalock, but Inoki reaches up and puts Hase in a chinlock at the same time. Hase hits the uranage! Another one! A THIRD one! Cover. Inoki just kicks out! A FOURTH uranage! He goes for five but Inoki blocks it and snaps his arm over his shoulder. Inoki enzuguri! He puts on another rear choke, but lets it go and hits another enzuguri. Cobra twist! Hase falls into the ropes. Inoki gives him another enzuguri and wraps up another twist in the middle of the ring. Hase has no choice but to give it up. Really fun match, easily the best thing on the show so far. ***1/2

 

Sting and The Great Muta def The Steiner Brothers in 11:03- Sting and Muta put their past differences aside to form a one night superteam. The Steiners are in a rare spot during their peak years where they didn't have any gold, mostly due to Scott just coming back from an injury. They'd get it all back in short order. This was shifted to the main event slot for the US broadcast version. Scott and Muta start. Muta sprays off some rare BLUE mist and we're off. Scott gets an arm takedown. Muta hits a front enzuguri outta nowhere. Scott scoops him up and absolutely plants him. Muta rolls under a rear kick. Both sides swap. Rick gets the upper hand on Sting. Steinerline! Bulldog off the top rope for 2! Sting pops out of the corner with a lariato with a Rick 360 sell. Faceplant, and he runs Rick upside down into the corner. An early Stinger Splash attempt is dodged. Scott hits a double underhook powerbomb. He tries for a tombstone, but Sting reverses and hits it. Rick breaks the pin up. Muta and Scott do some more mat wrestling with Scott getting a deadlift takedown. Rick places Muta up top and hits a release belly to belly superplex! German suplex! Scott hits a pumphandle slam. Now he puts Muta on the top rope and hits an avalanche Olympic slam! Damn, the Steiners are tossing Muta around like a bag of rice. Scott hooks in a dragon sleeper (and I swear I can hear the puzzled amusement in the voices of Japanese commentary at that with Fujinami in the main event). Muta gets to the rope. Rick takes his turn to run Muta upside down into the corner pad. Scott with a belly to belly. He throws Muta outside and Rick hits him with a belly to belly on the floor! Back in Muta ducks a Steinerline, hits a Saito suplex and tags. Stinger Splash on Rick! Muta goes for the handspring elbow....RICK CATCHES HIM IN MIDAIR AND GERMAN SUPLEXES HIM! Frakking awesome. He covers but Sting breaks the pin up. Rick did not like that one bit. He tags Scott then goes after Sting. Rick with a Bret bump! Sting and Muta double faceplant Scott. Sting presses Muta, throws him into Rick and they both go over the top to the floor! Damn! Sting crossbody off the top to the floor! Muta goes back in just to fly back out with a TOPE SUICIDA! Sting and Muta get back in. The Steiners climb up the top rope behind them and ambush them with tackles! Scott tries a tiltawhirl on Sting, but Sting partially blocks it into a cover and pins Scott! But Rick had Muta covered at the same time and thinks he won. The ref disagrees. Bit of a messy overdone finish, but that was one hell of a sprint. They jumped right out of the gate swinging haymakers and didn't let up the whole match. It was also interesting to see the Steiners playing the nominal heel role. ****

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: "The Total Package" Lex Luger (c) def Masahiro Chono in 15:09- Jim Herd is in the ring displaying the belt. Everyone hiss! He'd finally be run out of town almost immediately after this show. Rough opening lockup. Huge Luger shoulderblock and press slam. Chono ducks a lariato, gets a drop toe hold and goes for the STF early. Luger quickly gets to the ropes. Test of strength. Luger unsurprisingly gets the upper hand until Chono backdrops out of it. They go into a long stretch where Chono works Luger's arm while Luger turns to high impact power when he's on offense. There's an ugly moment in the middle where Chono reverses a corner whip and they collide at about half speed not knowing what to do, clearly a major miscommunication. Chono quickly bumps and Luger drops an elbow as they recover. After some more arm work Luger finally goes to the heel playbook and eye pokes out. More power. He drops Chono on the top rope and hits a suplex for 2. Chono kicks back. Enzuguri! Chono hits a back suplex but runs into a Luger powerslam. Luger DDT. He calls for the torture rack. Chono fights out before it's fully applied and gets a backslide for 2. Chono goes for the STF! Luger prevents the facelock part from being fully applied and crawls to the rope. Chono hits a tackle off the top rope. Luger ducks a charge and Chono flies over the top to the floor. That was Luger's usual spot a couple of years prior when he, y'know, cared. Chono sneaks back in and rolls Luger up for 2. He tries coming off the top again but Luger's got it scouted and lets him splat on the mat. He hooks Chono up in the torture rack. Chono manages to maneuver Luger close to the ropes and they both tumble over to the floor. Luger whips Chono into the guardrail and puts him in the rack on the floor! Once Hattori has gotten up to about 10 (New Japan 20 for a countout rules since it's in the Dome) Luger lets go, drops Chono to the floor and gets back in. I see the thinking here. Chono barely beats the count back in. Chono slips out of a suplex, tries for another Saito, but Luger low blows him! Luger hits an elbow off the second rope to the back of Chono's head and covers for the pin. Not too shabby. It had a decent start, was dull as Nailz middle, but I really liked the closing stretch. Probably Luger's best match from his hugely disappointing first world title run. Someone in the WCW office definitely noticed Chono's performance here as he'd go on to be a major part of the plans for the revived NWA world title later in the year. ***

 

Title vs Title Match: Greatest 18 Club Champion Riki Choshu def IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tatsumi Fujinami in 12:11- These guys have a longstanding rivalry dating back to New Japan's early days. Good back and forth start. Fujinami gets the first takedown. Choshu hits a fireman's carry slam out of a headlock. Knucklelock and test of strength. Fujinami works Choshu into the corner and slaps him. After another quick reset Fujinami hits a full speed shoulderblock and slam. Choshu Saitos out of a headlock, sets up the Scorpion and slowly turns Fujinami over. After a bit with no submission he breaks the hold. Fujinami grabs a kick and gives Choshu a dragon screw leg whip! Fujinami hooks in a Scorpion! Another quick break. Choshu tries another Saito but Fujinami rolls over on top of him on the way down. Fujinami piledriver. He does a snap mare and hooks up the dragon sleeper. Choshu gets to the ropes. Another dragon sleeper and Choshu slips out. Fujinami tries a cobra twist but Choshu flips out of that. Fujinami goes up top. Choshu follows. Choshu with a superplex! Fujinami stops his momentum with a dropkick. He grabs a headlock but Choshu plants him with another huge Saito. Lariato! Lariato to the back of the head! Choshu's huge pumping bomber-like lariato! That gets the pin and Chochu's third Heavyweight title! That was definitely an old school (even for me) '70s style match, but with great physicality and intensity. I wish they'd gotten more time. Choshu would go on to defend the IWGP Heavyweight and Greatest 18 as a unified title, but when The Great Muta took them in August of '92 he would retire the Greatest 18 title. ***1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: Definitley an up and down start to the January 4th Tokyo Dome tradition, but at this time New Japan wasn't quite known as the consistently excellent in-ring quality company like it is today. Only a year in and it's also already feeling more like a regular New Japan show with WCW guest stars rather than a true joint show. They'd run one more in '93. After that the joint promotion shows would end, but WCW wrestlers would still show up regularly as freelancers for the Dome shows. In fact New Japan bringing in outside companies would be a regular feature of the 1/4 Dome shows all the way through the early Wrestle Kingdom years.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-