NJPW Wrestling World 1996

Legacy Review

NJPW Wrestling World 1996

January 4, 1996 from the Tokyo Dome

 

This is the fifth annual January 4th Tokyo Dome show, and they've finally hit on a name that will last a while as most, but not all, of the 1/4 shows after this will be called Wrestling World until the start of Wrestle Kingdom in 2007. Once again the show features an interpromotional battle, this time New Japan going up against UWF International (UWFi), a short lived shoot style company that really went all out to make their booked matches look like real fights. You know, like the UFC. It's also not to be confused with the American promotion UWF that ran about the same time, generally called "Herb Abrams' UWF", that won a trophy case full of WON yearly "worst of" awards during its short existence. There was no relation between the two companies. It's also not a one night only thing, it's the middle part of a feud that went on almost a year.

As usual this is from the New Japan World archives so only Japanese commentary.

 

NJPW vs UWFi: Yuji Nagata, Shinjiro Otani and Tokimitsu Ishizawa def Kenichi Yamamoto, Hiromitsu Kenhara and Kazushi Sakuraba in 10:15- Nagata is still in his Young Lion phase, and this NJPW vs UWF feud would be an important part of his career, both in his development as a wrestler and his gaining popularity with fans. Ishizawa is also a Young Lion (though in a singlet instead of the traditional black trunks), and would later be known as Kendo Kashin. Nagata and Sakuraba start. The UWF guys have UWF on their kickpads. A battle for arm control ends in a stalemate. Some open hand slaps gets the crowd into it. Otani gets Sakuraba down with some kicks and stomps. Yamamoto lays in some knees in the corner. Otani fights out. More swinging ends in a stalemate. Ishizawa gets ground control on Yamamoto for a bit. Both sides tag around with more mat grappling and the New Japan guys seeming to have an edge on that end of things. Kenhara gets held down in the New Japan corner and both Nagata and Otani give him double stomps off the top rope. Kenhara gets a stiff palm strike on Otani. Sakuraba and Otani try to armbreaker each other. Rapid fire Nagata strikes and takedown. He does some ground and poud strikes with some jawing in between. He's all kinds of fired up. Yamamoto reponds with some stiff shots on Nagata. Nataga belly to belly! Cross armbreaker! Yamamoto quickly taps out. Solid opener that definitely leaned heavy into the UWF shoot style. New Japan goes up 1-0. **1/2

 

Hiroyoshi Tenzan def Satoshi Kojima in 9:24- Like Tenzan the year before, Kojima is coming back from excursion. His was fairly short, only about a year and a half in Europe after winning the '94 Young Lion Cup. These two will be intertwined virtually their whole careers as rivals, longtime tag partners (6 time IWGP Heavyweight tag champs, a record only recently broken by Guerillas of Destiny) and currently New Japan Dads. Both guys are super fired up during intros wanting to tear into each other. Kojima runs over the ref during prematch checks and nails Tenzan with Mongolian chops! Lariato! Tenzan goes to the floor. TOPE SUICIDA! Things settle in with some big boi shoulderblock standoffs. Simultaneous lariatos with Tenzan getting staggered. Kojima hits a suplex. Tenzan gets a boot up in the corner and hits a huge Mongolian chop off the second rope. Kojima rolls under a spinning heel kick and hits his own. Tenzan jawbreakers out of a chinlock. Kojima open hand strikes lead to a chop exchange. There's some serious stiff shots in there. Tenzan hits a corner lariato. Kojima dodges in the opposite corner and grabs a release German suplex off the rebound. He goes for another German. Tenzan does a standing switch and Kojima hits him with a blatant low blow. Sit out spinebuster. Kojima elbow off the top for 2. He goes up top again with a moonsault for 2. And again up top. This time Tenzan meets him and he hits an avalanche Samoan drop! Kojima kicks out! Tenzan moonsault! Kojima kicks out again! Quality near falls here, and they're getting the crowd into it, something that can be difficult for younger guys in Japan. More Mongolian chops. Tenzan with another Samoan drop. He goes up top, hits a diving headbutt, and that's good for the pin. After the bell Kojima attacks him again and has to be held back by the ring attendants. There was some really good power stuff in there, but both guys' inexperience showed which kept it from getting to the next level. **3/4

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Jushin Thunder Liger def Koji Kanemoto (c) in 18:59- Kanemoto won his first junior title in February while Liger was still on the shelf with an ankle injury (and also lost and won the title back from Sabu). Liger returned in August and slowly worked his way back up the ranks to get here, including winning the '95 Super-J Cup in December, which at that time was hosted by WAR and included many future legends. We're also two years removed from Liger beating Kanemoto in the Dome to take the Tiger Mask mantle away from him. White with half red and half blue gear for Liger tonight. Interesting look. Code of Honor handshake to start and we're off. Nice cat and mouse game at the start with Kanemoto hitting a spinning heel kick. Belly to belly suplex and Liger slides out. Kanemoto plancha! He hops right back up to the top rope and tackles Liger on the floor, then throws Liger back in and hits a missile dropkick. Liger gets put in the tree of woe and Kanemoto nails him with a running dropkick. Snappiest of snap mares by Kanemoto, followed by kicks and ground open hand slaps. It's been all Kanemoto at the start so far. Liger tries to get some momentum with a dropkick to the knee followed by a tiltawhirl backbreaker. Kanemoto is right back on top with a single leg crab. Liger grabs Kanemoto's leg, turns him over and hooks on the surfboard. Kanemoto gets out with a spinning kick and leg takedown. Figure four! Liger sells the hell out of it. After a long fight he finally gets to the ropes. More Kanemoto kicks and chops. Liger returns fire with a huge chop that floors Kanemoto. He reverses a corner whip and hits Kanemoto with a rolling kick in the corner. Hurricanrana for 2. Fisherman buster from Liger. A second one. A THIRD one. A FOURTH ONE. Cover. Kanemoto kicks out! Liger regular brain buster for 2. Release German, and I mean release, like halfway through and Kanemoto goes flying, sliding all the way to the floor. A baseball slide from Liger sends Kanemoto into the guardrail. Liger off the top with a tackle to the floor! Kanemoto barely beats the count back in at 19. Liger tries another hurricanrana but Kanemoto blocks it. Spinning kick from Kanemoto. Corkscrew senton off the second rope. He goes up top. Liger dodges a moonsault! Liger superplex for a long 2! Backbreaker setup and Liger goes up top. Kanemoto pops up! He hooks up for a suplerplex but Liger blocks it. He headbutts Kanemoto back down and comes off the top but Kanemoto gets his boots up. Kanemoto hurricanrana! Basement dropkick and he covers Liger arrogantly with one foot! Yeah, that's not going to do it. Ligerbomb from Kanemoto! Moonsault! Liger kicks out! Huge gasp from the crowd on that one. Kanemoto straitjacket release suplex. Another moonsault! Liger kicks out again! Huger gasp from the crowd. He goes for another corkscrew but Liger dodges it! Liger magistral cradle for 2. Kanemoto gets up top again, but Liger dodges and he faceplants himself. Ligerbomb! A second one! Kanemoto kicks out! Third Ligerbomb! Another kickout! Liger goes up top, hits a corkscrew moonsault, and that's finally enough to get Kanemoto down for the pin and the title! It's the seventh junior title win for Liger, which would still be a record today even if he hadn't run the number up to 11. Tiger Mask IV and KUSHIDA are second with 6 each, though now KUSHIDA is thankfully back home again he should add some more onto that. You can never, ever go wrong with peak Liger in the Tokyo Dome. ****1/4

 

Shiro Koshinaka def Masahiro Chono in 9:49- Koshinaka is the leader of Heisei Ishingun and he and Chono had been battling for months. It was slightly odd, as Chono was also transitioning into his heel Yakuza-inspired character that would lead to him being the face of NWO Japan. Screw your intros, we're fighting! Koshinaka jumps right in and hits a hip attack. Chono goes outside to slow things down. Reset lockup with a rough corner break. Chono cranks some arm wringers. Koshinaka gets a leg takedown and works the leg. Very dully. No transitions, just sitting there. Eventually Chono eye rakes out. Koshinaka no sells some big boots, Chono no sells hip attacks. Koshinaka grabs a waistlock and Chono gives him a low blow. Tackle off the top rope for 2. Chono grabs a sleeper and turns it into an inverted DDT. STF! Koshinaka slowly crawls to the rope. Chono tosses Koshinaka to the floor, pulls the mat up and sets up a piledriver. Koshinaka backdrops out. He goes for a powerbomb on the floor. Chono eye rakes in the air to cut it off. Back in Koshinaka hits a superplex. Corner hip attack. Chono with an inverted atomic drop that Koshinaka sells the hell out of. Koshinaka German suplex for 2. Hip attack off the top rope. He hip attacks Chono's second, Masa Saito, off the apron. Powerbomb for a long 2. Paul Smackage from Koshinaka and that gets the pin. Chono's struggles in January Dome singles matches continue, falling to 0-3 (and 0-4 if you count the first WCW/NJPW Supershow, which was in the spring). That was awful plodding for the little time they got and for a supposed feud blowoff. *1/2

 

Hiromichi Fuyuki def Yoji Anjo in 6:42- This is two outside guys getting a spot on New Japan's big show. Fuyuki is representing WAR, while Anjo (the future "Mr. 200%") is here for UWFi. Both guys have two seconds, and Fuyuki's are none other than young Gedo and Jado, and their interference skills were as good then as they are now. Anjo was famous (or infamous) for traveling to California and picking a fight with jujitsu master Rickson Gracie to try to promote UWFi as a real fighting league. It went badly for Anjo. Another match with a pre-intro jump. Must be Wrestlemania. Fuyuki, Gedo and Jado triple team Anjo before order is restored. I think that just pissed Anjo off. They go outside and Anjo gets a bottle of some kind of aerosol spray from one of his guys and sprays Fuyuki in the face with it. Fuyuki offers a maybe sarcastic handshake from the apron. Anjo hits him over the head with it. After some more beating Anjo offers a very sarcastic handshake, which is ignored. More beatdown from Anjo. Fuyuki hulks up with a Mongolian chop. Anjo gives him a low blow and kick to the head. Gedo and Jado provide a distraction and Fuyuki gets a low blow of his own in. Brawl on the floor with more interference. Gedo and Jado wrap duct tape around Anjo's face! When he gets back in Fuyuki lariatos him for 2. He goes for another one but Anjo grabs the arm and hooks in a Fujiwara armbar. More interference. Gedo, Jado and Fuyuki blatantly triple team and the ref lets it all go. I know we joke around about New Japan refs being lenient but this stretching that past ridiculousness. Fuyuki hits another huge lariato and gets the pin. 1/2*

 

Kensuke Sasaki def Hiroshi Hase in 16:36- This is billed as Hase's retirement match as he was starting out his political career, having won his first election to the House of Counselors in '95. One of his old tag partners Sasaki is sending him off. Back and forth stalemate start. Hase does his famous test of strength bridge and hits a kick at such a crazy angle no one saw it coming, least of all Sasaki. Hase gives him time to recover. Sasaki fires up with shoulderblocks. Hase counters with chops. Sasaki grounds and rides Hase for a bit. Hase escapes and transitions into an Indian Death Lock. Sasaki grabs a hammerlock and both guys get to the ropes. Chop/open hand strike exchange. Hase gets floored with a strike and is almost knocked unconscious. After some Sasaki arm work Hase reverses a whip and turns it into a uranage! Missile dropkick and kip up. It's time to go swinging! He gives the much larger Sasaki over a dozen rotations before he gives out. Sasaki counters a uranage. Running dropkick. Sasaki fakes a corner lariato, bounces back off the ropes and hits a faceplant. Scorpion Death Lock. He cranks it hard while Hase tries to fight it, eventually just getting a hand into the out of bounds white. Sasaki goes for a powerbomb but falls down. Hase falls on top of him for 2. Hase German for 2. Northern Lights suplex for 2. Sasaki fights out of a dragon suplex and hits a uranage! Hase squeaks out of Sasaki's dragon hold. More mat work follows as the match gets a bit ploddy with both guys seeming to be not sure how to proceed. Sasaki hits a powerslam. Lariatos. He hits a nothern lights brain buster and that finishes it. As soon as the bell rings Sasaki visibly gets emotional. There's a little ceremony after the match with Hase being presented a robe, both guys addressing the crowd and a big hug to end it. Far from either guy's best match but it's a nice moment. **1/2

But as usual for wrestlers, retirement didn't stick for Hase. Even though his political career was his focus, he moved over to All Japan starting in January '97 and continued to wrestle part time. And that political career has been pretty damn successful too, and still going today- over 20 years in the House of Representatives including serving as a government minister at one point, and just earlier this year he won the governorship of his home Ishikawa prefecture in a very crowded and competitive race.

 

Antonio Inoki def Big Van Vader in 14:16- Inoki's Final Countdown retirement tour continues. This time he's revisiting his loss to Vader from Vader's New Japan debut match in 1987. Vader had already signed with WWF, but his debut wouldn't be until the Royal Rumble so he was given permission to work this show. The crowd is all kinds of fired up for this. Vader jumps Inoki with a tackle before the bell! Inoki quickly rolls out to kill the momentum. Lockup and quick Vader slam. Corner beatdown. The mask is already off! Shit's gonna get serious. Inoki punches to no effect. One Vader punch puts him on his knees again. Vader lifts him again but Inoki twists and locks in a headscissors. Both guys tumble over the top to the floor. Vader slams Inoki on the timekeeper's table! Then slams the table on Inoki! Apron lariato. He goes for it again. Inoki ducks and locks in the Inoki choki! Vader eye pokes to get out. A Vader release German suplex drops Inoki right on his head! Holy shit. Commentary loses it. There's a long closeup of Inoki not moving at all. He's dead, Jim. Vader tosses Inoki out to the ramp. He charges, but Inoki backdrops him back into the ring. Inoki kneedrop off the top rope. He lays in some hammy kicks. Enzuguri! Vader goes to the floor. Inoki kicks him from the apron and Vader goes 360 over the guardrail onto more official's tables! Inoki gives him a chairshot! Vader picks up another chair and tosses it in Inoki's general direction. That had some Randy Johnson or John Elway heat on it. Vader tosses some of the tables around too. He's been busted open. Inoki is clearly happy when he sees it. When Vader gets back in Inoki attacks the cut. Another enzuguri. Fujiwara armbar! Vader powers out. Vader with a sleeper! He lays in the potato shots. Hard slam for 2. He picked Inoki up and dropped him like Minoru Suzuki does his chairshots. Vader with a choke slam! Inoki folded up like an accordion. But he kicks out. Inoki looks like he's bleeding too, not sure when that happened. Inoki slides out of a powerbomb but Vader kills him with elbows. Dragon sleeper! Inoki escapes. Vader set up slam......Vader bomb! Inoki kicks out! The crowd's going freaking ballistic. Vader goes to the second rope again......up top......VADERSAULT! AND IT HITS! INOKI KICKS OUT AGAIN! Man, the ref was slow to get in to start the count. Vader was robbed. Vader with an avalanche. He goes for a second one. Inoki dodges and slams Vader. Cross armbreaker! It's locked in! Vader taps out! What a damn match. After it's over both guys show respect and hug it out. Was there a bit much of "Superman Inoki" here? Maybe, but the crowd was really into it and Vader was only over for the one match so I don't see any harm in it. ****1/2

 

NJPW vs UWFi: Riki Choshu def Masahito Kakihara in 5:46- We're going UWF shoot style again. Kakihara catches Choshu with fast kicks right after the bell and some knees. More kicks are shrugged off by Choshu and he lays in some corner headbutts and knees. Hard kick to Kakihara's gut. Corner standoff. A Choshu punch floors Kakihara. Extended mat grappling with the much larger Choshu dominating. Suplex slam by Choshu. Kaihara ducks a lariato that might have legitimately decapitated him. Chochu Saito suplex. Lariato! He hooks the Scorpion in and Kahihara taps. Total squashiness. I get in a shoot style fight this might have been how it would have gone since Choshu is so much bigger, but still not too much happening here. New Japan goes up 2-0 with a WCW Invasion level squash. Kakihara would end up signing full time with New Japan later in his career and even won Best of the Super Juniors in 2003 before his career was derailed by injury. He got a feel good New Japan Rambo win in the preshow before Wrestle Kingdom 12 (the one with the hugely historically important Kenny Omega vs Chris Jericho match) as an in-ring sendoff. 3/4*

 

Shinya Hashimoto def Kazuo Yamazaki in 9:18- Hashimoto is in a rare spot during his dominant run where he's not the Heavyweight champion, but he is currently one half of the IWGP Tag Team champs along with Junji "Super Strong Machine" Hirata. Yamazaki was working for UWFi, but later in the year as the interpromotional feud progressed he would switch sides back to New Japan, the company he worked for during most of the '80s. He'd also train young guys like Nagata the shoot style. Feeling out kicks to start with a couple of Hashimoto's connecting. Yamazaki gets a kick to Hashimoto's head and goes into some arm work. Hashimoto lifts him up, drops him, and rolls out for a breather. When he gets back in it's back to the arm. Hashimoto punches to the throat give him some space and momentum. Elbow drop. Kick exchange. Yamazaki continues the laser focus on the arm. Hashimoto responds with an arm slam. Yamazaki slips out of a suplex and hooks on a sleeper. Hashimoto gets to the ropes. Yamazaki puts it back on, then tries to transition to an armbreaker. Hashimoto rolls over, deadlifts him and drops him down. Kicks to Hashimoto only fire him up. Huge open hand slap from Hashimoto. He hits the brain buster and that's it. Eh. **1/4

 

NJPW vs UWFi Match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Nobuhiko Takada def Keiji Mutoh (c) in 17:51- The former Great Muta had a huge year in '95. First, he defeated the nearly unstoppable Hashimoto for the Heavyweight title in May. Then in August, Mutoh won his first G1 Climax, becoming the first wrestler to win the tournament while champion, a feat only done one other time since (Kensuke Sasaki in 2000). Takada was UWFi's top star. He wrestled for New Japan in the '80s, had held the IWGP Tag titles before and was the second ever IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion. This is actually the second big Dome match between these two, they headlined a Dome show the previous October when the NJPW/UWFi feud was getting started. Code of Honor handshake at the start despite how heated the rivalry has become, not just between these two but between the companies. Feeling out start as we'll be going mostly UWFi style for a while. Takada gets some strikes in. Mutoh grabs a leg and gets a corner break. Some rolling around mat grappling follows. Mutoh grabs a body scissors while both guys jockey for position. Mutoh tries to put on a figure four but Takada gets to the ropes. Both guys get back to their feet and loose some exploratory kicks. The next few minutes back on the mat are Takada trying to put a kimura on with Mutoh fighting it off. Mutoh headbutts at right around the match's halfway mark spice things up. Elbow drop. Kneelifts and a rolling kick. Saito suplex by Mutoh. Moonsault! He doesn't cover, but instead tries for an armbreaker. He almost stretches it out but Takada gets to the ropes. Kicks from Takada and he hits a Saito suplex! He goes for his kneebar submission hold. The crowd's really getting into it. Mutoh gets to the ropes. More Takada kicks. Mutoh gets a dragon screw! Figure four! Takada fights and gets to the ropes. After a bit of a standoff Mutoh hits another dragon screw! He tries to put the figure four on again but Takada barely blocks his leg with his shoulder to keep it from being fully applied. He gets the kneebar on again. Both guys roll to the ropes. Takada with a takedown and armbreaker. Both guys are in the ropes again. Mutoh gets floored with a kick. Another Takada armbreaker. And he gets it cinched in the middle of the ring! Mutoh tries to fight, but in the end he has to tap out! Takada wins the title in what has to be considered a massive upset. New Japan wins the night's official interpromotional matches 2-1, but the one for UWFi was the big one. The match was very pedestrian in the first half with the shoot style, but picked up nicely in the second half. ***1/2

After the match wrestlers from both companies fill the ring up while Takada is presented with the belt. Takada calls out Hashimoto for a title match with Hashimoto accepting. A brawl almost breaks out among the wrestlers but they keep things under control. Sasaki and Koshinaka also stake a claim to a title match. In the end it would be Hashimoto getting the belt back for New Japan in April for his third title reign, one where he would break Muta's 400 day reign record with 489, a record that would stand all the way until Kazuchika Okada's legendary two year reign in 2016-18.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGTS- Two great matches (Liger delivering like usual and Inoki/Vader being as great as it looked on paper), a pretty good main event, but the rest of the show is pretty meh, a good portion of it bogged down by the ultra-realistic shoot style that I don't hugely care for. Strong style is generally "realistic" enough for me. The NJPW/UWFi feud was a big draw and financial success for New Japan however, and it would have massive historical implications: Eric Bischoff credits it with giving him the initial idea behind the creation of the NWO.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+