NJPW Wrestling World 1997

Legacy Review

NJPW Wrestling World 1997

January 4, 1997 from the Tokyo Dome

Following the successful feud with UWFi over '95-'96 New Japan is once again in the middle of an interpromotional feud, this time with Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW, get the P out). BJW had just started in '95, and were an interesting dance partner for New Japan to say the least. Why? Because they were a deathmatch company. Deathmatches boomed in Japan in the '90s, not least thanks to the work of guys like Terry Funk and Mick Foley in IWA Japan in '95, who had some of the most legendary hardcore matches in history. This new promotion rode that wave to start, and is still going today. I think calling them a Japan version of CZW wouldn't be too far off the mark, though they probably have a lot fewer shows lit by fans' car headlights. This show is also kicking off New Japan's 25th anniversary year.

As usual this is on New Japan World so Japanese commentary only.

Junji Hirata, Satoshi Kojima, Manabu Nakanishi and Osamu Nishimura def Yuji Nagata, Osamu Kido, Takayuki Iizuka and Kazuo Yamazaki in 11:21- Mainly this is your usual multi-man New Japan tag opener, with the added twist that it's Nagata's last match before heading off for his excursion, which famously included a stop in WCW. As usual with these matches we'll whip through it quickly. Nagata and Nakanishi start with a nice exchange. Nakanishi gives Nagata the cobra clutch swing. Kojima and Iizuka trade sentons with Iizuka giving a little "anything you can do I can do better" attitude. Nagata ends up in the wrong corner and Hirata works him over. Nagata and Yamazaki grab a DOUBLE armbreaker on Nishimura. Kojima hits an elbow off the top on Iizuka for 2. Yamazaki pummels Kojima with kicks. Nagata armbreaker attempts set off a couple of donnybrooks. Hirata hits Nagata with a sit out powerbomb for 2. Huge lariato and Nagata's not getting up from that, going off for excursion on his back as Young Lions are supposed to do. "Go make yourself better, then come back and prove it". These are the kinds of matches that got a little more palatable once New Japan got a whole bunch of factions like today, giving them more of a team vs team aspect. **1/2

 

Super Liger def Koji Kanemoto in 11:11- Super Liger is none other than Chris Jericho in a full Jushin Liger-style bodysuit and mask. Now, you're probably figuring, this is classic heel Jericho work mocking Liger and setting up a potential clash down the line. Perfectly reasonable assumption. Unfortunately, it's also wrong. This was a really real attempt by New Japan to create a really real new Liger, and it went over like shit dressing on a Thanksgiving turkey. It bombed so bad this would be the character's only appearance. I can say with almost complete certainty that's Jericho's real golden locks, not hair sewn on the mask like Liger's. During intros you get the sense the crowd wants to boo Jericho but is too Japanese polite to out and out do it. Jericho Saito suplexes out of a headlock and hits a delayed suplex. Zero crowd reaction, no normal polite applause, nothing. Kanemoto lays in some kicks and elbows. Chop exchange. Jericho hits a basement dropkick and wraps up a legbar. Kanemoto no sells an enzuguri. A second one hits. I've never heard a Japanese crowd this quiet. It's a totally different kind of silence to the normal polite silence you usually get. They're shitting all over this match in their own unique way. Jericho hits a slingshot splash for 2. He locks in a facelock and shouts "ASK HIM!". Old habits die hard. Jericho plays to the crowd and gets absolutely nothing back. Spinning heel kick on Kanemoto. He goes for the classic Jericho springboard dropkick but slips off the second rope! The crowd APPLAUDS that! Holy shit. I can even hear some laughter in there too. Jericho recovers with a regular dropkick, then hits a missile dropkick to the floor. Again zero reaction. Jericho rolls back in and FLIPS THE CROWD OFF to try to get something out of them. No dice. Kanemoto suplexes Jericho from the ring to the floor! Springboard corkscrew senton! Jericho flips out of a suplex back in. The Lionsault misses but Jericho pops up and hits a dropkick. He goes for a hurricanrana off the top but Kanemoto blocks it and turns it into an avalanche powerbomb! That woke the crowd up. Kanemoto moonsault. He pulls Jericho up out of the pin! I don't think anyone wanted this match to go longer. Tiger suplex for 2. Jericho hits a lariato for 2. Kanemoto blocks a superplex, lifts Jericho up and drops him down to the floor! He dives, but Jericho dropkicks him in midair. At least I think he did, the photographers were in the way. Back in Jericho hits a double underhook superplex, then mocks Kanemoto by pulling him up out of the pin. He then continues the mocking by hitting his own tiger suplex for the win. They really should have called an audible and had Kanemoto win. Both guys tried their best to make this work but it was a Kobayashi Maru scenario with no way to reprogram the test. Jericho has been very open about the disaster this was, and how the mask and bodysuit messed him up. The match had some flashy moves but was also very disjointed for obvious reasons, but it's worth watching just for the crowd reactions. *1/2

 

Jensei Shinzaki def Michiyoshi Ohara in 9:17- Shinzaki is the former Hakushi in WWF. Ohara is Heisei Ishingun and has some of his cronies seconding him. It might be Gedo and Jado, I'm not sure, but I think they were elsewhere at this time. Ohara has some writing on his body, presumably mocking Shinzaki's Hakushi look. Ohara charges before the bell. He hits the praying powerbomb (also mocking Shinzaki) and elbow drop combo for 2. Shinzaki cartwheels after a corner whip and hits a superkick. Ohara backdrops him to the floor and the cronies jump on him. Spike piledriver on the floor! Shinzaki's whipped into the barricade. Ugly Ohara backdrop for 2. After some heel choking Shinzaki is thrown out again, but this time he fights off the seconds. He grabs Ohara's arm from the apron, walks the top rope for a bit, and comes down with a chop. Vader bomb for 2. He tries coming off the top with a chop, but Ohara catches and choke slams him. Shinzaki counters a powerbomb and fights out of another choke slam. Ohara gives him a low blow. One crony distracts the ref and the heel double team backfires. Shinzaki tackle off the top for 2. Headbutt off the top. The praying powerbomb gets the pin. Bleh. *

 

NJPW vs BJW: Shinjiro Otani def Yoshihiro Tajiri in 8:30-Yes, this is indeed the same "Japanese Buzzsaw" Tajiri that worked in the WWE Cruiserweight division during Paul Heyman's legendary run booking Smackdown in the early brand split years (AKA the "Smackdown Six" era). I was a huge fan of his in those years. In fact, he was the first Japanese wrestler I was ever a fan of. Tajiri offers a handshake then pulls it back. Otani charges but Tajiri nails him with a spinning heel kick! Tajiri armdrag and he rolls Otani around. German for a long 2! The crowd bit on that one. Tajiri hurricanrana for another long 2. Otani hits a basement dropkick to finally get a bit of offense in. After some knee work he gives Tajiri some boot scrapes in the corner and gets all fired up. Open hand slap exchange. Both guys hit and both guys go down! Tajiri dodges a springboard dropkick. Another German! Otani kicks out again! Otani rolls to the floor. Tajiri with a beautiful, high springboard moonsault! Otani straight caught him to prevent him from crashing into the guardrail and both guys go down on the floor. Tajiri tries to kick Otani off the apron, but Otani grabs his foot and puts on an ankle lock. Tajiri fights out of a dragon suplex. He grabs a clutch and they roll around the ring again. Otani escapes. Tajiri hurricanrana off the top for 2. Otani hits a powerbomb. He refuses to take the count, goes to the apron, and hits a springboard spinning heel kick! That gets the pin. Good stuff, with Tajiri looking like the future star he was. New Japan goes up 1-0. ***1/4

 

NJPW vs BJW: Kendo Nagasaki def Tatsutoshi Goto in 9:23- Both guys are wearing black pants and are bald. From a distance it looks like a mirror match. Goto is the leader of Heisei Ishingun. Lots of positioning at the start. Nagasaki swings some wild forearms, a couple hitting Goto stiff. Goto responds with headbutts. Nagasaki gets an arm takedown and tries to put on a kimura lock. After some weak mat wrestling they go outside and do some weak floor brawling. Back in Goto charges and hits an ugly ass lariato. Both guys go to the ramp, the first match tonight to do so. Goto suplexes Nagasaki on the ramp, then gets a big head of steam and hits a running lariato. Nagasaki hits a superkick back in. Piledriver. Goto kicks out. They go to the floor again. Nagasaki grabs a chair and pummels Goto with it. Back in he hits Goto with a side suplex on the chair. Goto's bleeding from somewhere on the side of his head from one of those shots. Piledriver on the chair! The ref lets it all go and counts 3. Super bleh. The interpromotional series is tied 1-1. 1/2*

 

NJPW vs BJW: Masahiro Chono def Shoji Nakamaki in 1:07- The video starts with a staredown and brawl on the ramp. Nakamaki brought a large sheet of barbed wire with him and Chono looks perfectly happy with it. After a couple minutes fighting they walk past the wire sheet, get in the ring and the bell rings. Nakamaki is bleeding a bit. After a little more Chono pummeling he goes up top and tells Nakamaki to join him. Nakamaki superplex. Chono pops right back up! Yakuza kick and that's it. Total squash. After the bell Chono puts on the STF, then sets the barbed wire sheet up in the corner. Nakamaki fights back, chopping Chono down with multiple lariatos. Chono reverses a corner whip and Nakamaki goes into the barbed wire. Chono sets the wire up again in the middle of the ring and superplexes Nakamaki (sort of) onto it. Nakamaki responds by taking his shirt off and taking multiple voluntary bumps onto the barbed wire to show he's a crazy son of a bitch. Not much of a match but the whole package was pretty fun. New Japan goes up 2-1. NR

 

NJPW vs BJW: Masa Saito def Great Kojika in 4:25- Kojika is wearing a tux and has grenades attached to his vest. That's hardcore, I guess. He takes the vest off but stays in the tux. Saito complains to the ref. Kojika decides he's OK with taking the jacket off. Finally they lock up and Saito goes nuts. Kojika tries to get away. Saito floors him with leg kicks and hits some Mongolian chops. Kojika rolls out and TAKES HIS BOW TIE OFF. Guess that means he's serious now. Or about to regenerate into Peter Capaldi. He tries chops but Saito shrugs it all off. Kojika runs away again. The crowd is furious with him. Saito fights off the goon squad Kojika brought with him. While he's distracted Kojika hits him with a chain and chokes him with it. The ref, instead of calling a DQ, hits Kojika to make him stop. Saito locks in an ankle lock and Kojika gives it up. Another squash. That was horrendous. Not even being in the Tokyo Dome saved it from dudsville. New Japan wins the series 3-1, which was all part of the deal. BJW traded getting their asses handed to them for exposure, and seeing as they're still in business today I guess it worked. DUD

 

MMA Match: Antonio Inoki def Willie Williams in 4:19- Don't let the "MMA" fool you, it's still a work. This is part of Inoki's continuing Final Countdown retirement tour (this match being specifically billed as "Countdown 6"). Back in 1980 Inoki had a draw with Williams while defending the WWF World Martial Arts Championship, a title that was created for and given to Inoki by Vince McMahon Sr. in 1978 and sporadically defended by him until 1989. The Martial Arts title belt was actually used again by New Japan for the short lived Greatest 18 Championship. Williams charges at the bell and knocks Inoki down. Ref Tiger Hattori gives him time to get back up. A couple of battles on the mat end in rope breaks. Inoki dodges Williams kicks. After a corner break Inoki ducks a punch, wraps up a cobra twist, grounds Williams and he taps out. Inoki vs Vader this was not. This would be Inoki's last match on the traditional 1/4 Done show. After a few more matches in '97, his only and last match in '98 would be in a special Tokyo Dome show held on April 4 to celebrate his retirement (which sadly is not available in full on New Japan World). 3/4*

 

J-Crown Championship: Jushin Thunder Liger def Ultimo Dragon (c) in 18:21- The J-Crown is here! Intended to give a boost to the junior heavyweight division (and reportedly Liger's idea), the Crown combined eight different junior titles from Japan and Mexico, including the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, the original WWF Light Heavyweight Championship that had been defended in the Mexican promotion UWA and then Michinoku Pro in Japan, and a couple of NWA belts that were still floating around. Clearly the boost worked, given this is much higher up the card than junior matches normally were back then. The 8 man tournament to crown an inaugural champion was held in conjunction with the '96 G1 Climax tournament. I'm sure most long time fans reading this will remember Ultimo Dragon bringing the Crown to WCW while he was champion, and even adding the WCW Cruiserweight title to it for a time. Dragon is flanked by women in swimsuits during intros, each one holding a belt. Does the winner get the women along with the belts? Liger is in a really sweet all gold outfit for all the gold on the line tonight. That's a keeper. After some sneaky Liger knees on a rope break they go into an extended breathless speed/counter sequence, ending with Dragon managing to wrap up a magistral cradle for 2. Liger rolls out for a think and walks back in to knees and kicks. Backbreaker from Liger and we're going surfing. Powerbomb. Liger with a camel clutch that leads into some more exchanges on the mat. Dragon targets Liger's knee. He does some hip swivels while holding an Indian Death Lock. Closet Rick Rude fan? Liger flash sunset flip for 2 that leads into some rollup counters. Dragon goes back to the knee. Liger gets back up with chops while shaking the knee off. Rolling corner kick. Dragon with a monkey flip and dropkick. Springboard moonsault for 2. Dragon handsprings, but Liger catches him and gives him a release German suplex! Another rolling kick sends Dragon outside. Liger with a dive to the floor. Back in Dragon comes back with forearms. Liger eye pokes him to stop it. Fisherman buster for 2. Dragon counters a suplex with another magistral for 2. Double lariato and both men are down. Liger drops Dragon with one straight punch and covers for 2. Dragon blocks a hurricanrana and headscissors Liger to the floor. Tope suicida! Dragon goes up top and comes down with a senton to the floor. Back in Dragon hits a fallaway slam and moonsault. Tiger suplex! Liger kicks out! Liger reverses a tombstone. Both guys head up top and have a slugfest up there. Dragon flips around Liger's shoulders and hits a hurricanrana! Liger kicks out again! Dragon hits Liger with his own Liger bomb for a 2 count. Liger dodges a Lionsault and does his own magistral for 2. Dragon tries for another Liger bomb but Liger turns it into a hurricanrana. Liger lifts Dragon up in a suplex and drops him straight down with a Steiner Screwdriver! That gets the pin and the boatload of titles. Not the women, presumably. Really good match as expected, but is was missing that something extra to get it to the next level. ***1/2

 

IWGP Tag Team Championship: Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura def Cho-Ten (c) in 16:10- Chono's pulling double duty tonight. The legendary team of Cho-Ten are on their second title run, having first won the titles in '95 soon after Tenzan came back from excursion. Kimura and Fujinami were actually the very first IWGP tag champs when the title was created back in 1985, and had three total title reigns in the late '80s. Kimura had been part of Heisei Ishingun but was now back face and back with his old tag partner. Cho-Ten do the Suzuki Gun ambush before the bell, tossing the faces out. Things settle in with Kimura in the wrong part of town. After a few minutes he escapes and Fujinami tags in with a flurry. Tenzan hits Fujinami from behind to kill his momentum. Chono works his knee. Tenzan headbutts. Fujinami open hand slaps back. Tenzan ends up in the face corner for a bit. Fujinami and Kimura give him kneedrops off the top rope. Tenzan blocks a Fujinami suplex and hits his own, then pushes Fujinami into the heel corner and tags out after having been in peril a while. A wild Chono kick sends Fujinami into his own corner and he tags out. Tenzan with Mongolian chops and a Samoan drop on Kimura. Chono neckbreaker for 2. Cho-Ten double tackle. Tenzan Mongolian chop off the second rope. A Chono top rope tackle misses but Kimura sells it anyway. Tenzan has a great "aw, what the hell" reaction. Cho-Ten do a Hart Attack with an inverted atomic drop added in. Nice. STF! Fujinami breaks it up and it's everyone in the pool time. Fujinami blocks a Chono Yakuza kick. Dragon screws! The faces try a double team but Kimura wipes out his own partner. Kimura recovers and hits Chono with a powerbomb. Tenzan breaks up the pin and donnybrook the second is on. Kimura superplexes Chono. Fujinami with a sleeper. Tenzan spinning heel kicks him in the back to break it up. Fujinami tries for it again and Chono low blows him. Yakuza kick! Fujinami kicks out! Dragon sleeper! He covers, then dodges a Tenzan headbutt off the top. Face double team to clear the ring. Dragon sleeper again! Chono taps out! There were parts in the middle that were pretty dull, the stretch run was fantastic, but I also think it went on a tad too long and might have been better if they hit the end a few minutes earlier. Cho-Ten temporarily broke up right after this show when Chono formally formed NWO Japan. **3/4

 

Power Warrior def The Great Muta in 16:09- Kensuke Sasaki and Keiji Mutoh are both channeling their alter egos for this one. Muta lets some red mist fly and we're off. Cautious lockup. Warrior breaks a waistlock to show off his power advantage. Muta spits out some green mist. Big shoulderblock by Warrior. Muta pops right back up with punches and kicks. Warrior pops out of the corner with a lariato. Press slam and Muta powders. Muta rolls under a lariato, hits a spinning kick and a suplex. Cover. Warrior's kickout sends Muta sliding outside again. After a catch and powerslam Muta rolls out yet again. When he gets back in he eye rakes Warrior and tosses him outside. They get on the timekeeper's tables. Muta piledrives Warrior onto the table! And it's Japan, you know that table isn't breaking. While Warrior's down Muta buries him under chairs and another table. Warrior tosses the whole pile away! They get on another table. Warrior sets up for a piledriver but drops Muta face first down on the table instead. That might have been a safety audible call, Warrior was messing around with the table before setting that up. Back in Warrior misses a dropkick and Muta drops an elbow. They go out to the ramp. Muta with a faceplant. You know what's coming. Ramp run lariato! Back in Muta goes for the handspring elbow. Warrior catches him! Muta back elbow out. Clearly both watched their previous matches with the Steiners. Both guys go up top. Warrior presses Muta while standing on the ropes and drops him to the floor! Muta tosses some chairs in the ring. Chairshot to Warrior's head. Warrior no sells it and kills Muta with a lariato! Warrior picks a chair up, just in time to use to it to block a red mist spray from Muta! Chairshot to Muta! Warrior powerslam for 2. Lariato for 2. Powerbomb. While being pinned Muta green mists Warrior! Moonsault! Warrior kicks out! Muta brings a table into the ring and sets it up in the corner. He whips Warrior into it, then hits the handspring elbow! Hurricanrana onto the table! He goes up for another moonsault. Warrior dodges and Muta lands on the table! Warrior brain buster on the table! That gets the pin. Really fun American style spectacle match. This is the kind of match you can show a friend that's never watched Japanese wrestling before and nothing would be lost in translation. This win would kick off a '94 Diesel like run for Sasaki in '97 where he won everything in sight and solidified a spot at main event level. Meanwhile, this continued Muta's story of having trouble winning big matches that had been running since his Heavyweight title loss the previous year and teasing a turn that would lead him to joining NWO Japan later in the year. ***1/2

 

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Shinya Hashimoto (c) def Riki Choshu in 18:04- Like the tag title match this is another clear cross generational battle, with old school Choshu up against the man who had solidified his position as the new company ace over the last few years in Hashimoto. Choshu won the G1 Climax in '96, technically his first but he did also win the G1 precursor World Cup Tournament in '89. That win didn't give him this title shot, we're still years away from that G1 stipulation. The bell rings and they dive right into the big boi lockup. After some facelock/headlock/test of strength basics Hashimoto swings some exploratory kicks. Choshu punches him down and hits a suplex slam. Slugfest. Hashimoto takes the edge with knees and kicks. After getting pounded down in the corner Choshu fires up and lays in some kicks that tweak Hashimoto's knee. Scorpion Death Lock! Hashimoto tries to power out but can't. After a few minutes with no submission Choshu lets go. He starts in with the killer lariatos. Hashimoto tries to stay up but goes down after a few. Cover for 2. More lariatos, including one in the back of Hashimoto's head. Hashimoto keeps kicking out. He finally blocks a lariato and kicks Choshu's arm. More kicks to Choshu's lariato arm. Choshu comes back with big chops. Superplex from Choshu! More lariatos. Choshu goes up top again. Hashimoto pops up, climbs up with him and hits his own superplex. DDT. Choshu kicks out! Leaping DDT! Choshu kicks out again! Hashimoto hits the brain buster and that does it. In contrast to the last match, this was pure simple and effective strong style, but once again was missing that extra ingredient to get it to the next level. If they'd gotten 5-10 more minutes I think they would have gotten there. ***3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Probably the weakest Dome show I've done to date. It's not bad, just average. The NJPW vs BJW stretch has some turds, Super Liger is an amusing disaster, and unlike other Dome shows there's not any of those upper echelon matches to pull the whole package up. In fact this is the first Dome show I've done with nothing hitting 4 stars.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C