NJPW Wrestling World 1999

Legacy Review

NJPW Wrestling World 1999

January 4, 1999 from the Tokyo Dome

After a successful run through the '90s, this show marks a turning point in the history of New Japan. MMA promotions were starting to take off in Japan and Antonio Inoki, credited by some as the father of MMA through his famous match with Muhammad Ali, was always looking for ways to combine worked pro wrestling matches and shoot MMA fights no matter how mixed (no pun intended) at best the results had been in that endeavor. A promotion called the Universal Fighting Arts Organization (UFO) was started in Japan, and Inoki got them on board for a series of interpromotional matches on this show.

Funnily enough, 1/4/99 is also a huge date in the history of wrestling here in the US. It was on the same day as this show that the Raw aired where Mick Foley, as Mankind, won the WWF Championship for the first time. That result on the pretaped show was spoiled by Tony Schiavone (under Eric Bischoff orders) live on WCW Nitro, causing many viewers to switch over and watch it, the opposite of what WCW intended. Those that did stay with Nitro saw possibly the single most infamous moment in WCW's history, one that many point to as the beginning of the end of the company: the Finger Poke of Doom.

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

Manabu Nakanishi def Kazuyuki Fujita in 11:10- Fujita was a former MMA fighter that was seriously trying to make the transition into wrestling through the New Japan Dojo and Young Lion system. Nakanishi was about 3 years back from excursion and still working to prove himself, though he did have a IWGP tag title win under his belt already. Fujita's got bleached blonde hair, a sure sign of a heel wrestler in Japan. There are also two of the larger wrestlers on the roster, and when I say large I don't mean with excess fat. Just the opposite. Both guys charge straight into the middle of the ring and lock up the instant the bell rings. Standing switches and arm wringer tradeoffs. Fujita gets a fireman's carry takedown. Nakanishi wins the mat leverage game. Waist takedown from Fujita. Nakanishi drops him and reset. Nakanishi blocks an armbreaker. Big shoulderblock. Fujita with a spear! He follows up with a slam for 2. Nakanishi lifts and slams out of a chinlock. Big chops from Nakanishi. Fujita hits back with open hand slaps. Both guys are throwing haymakers. Kneelifts from Fujita. Nakanishi floors him with a forearm. Suplex and legdrop for 2. Nakanishi trash talk while he hits chops sets Fujita off. Some more chops get him back down. Nakanishi release northern lights suplex. He goes to put Fujita in his torture rack finisher. Fujita blocks it and kneelifts out. Nakanishi forearms for 2. He lifts Fujita up again and drops him in what might have been a backbreaker but that was ugly looking. More trash talk. Fujita goes nuts with a slap and knee flurry. A Nakanishi lariato hits Fujita right in the head. Fujita hits a hurricanrana that slowly barely gets Nakanishi over. Nakanishi is back up in beatdown mode. High knee and lariato. He gets Fujita up in the torture rack and it's over. Later in the year Nakanishi would shock the world (well, Japan) by winning the G1 Climax, one of the biggest upsets not just in the tournament's history, but all of New Japan. *3/4

 

Tatsumi Fujinami, Osamu Kido and Tadao Yasuda def Tatsuoshi Goto, Kengo Kimura and Michiyoshi Ohara in 9:17- Fujinami won the IWGP Heavyweight title during Inoki's retirement show in April of '98 for his then-record 6th title reign, but he's now clearly and rapidly moving to New Japan Dad status. The team opposing him is the remnants of the rapidly dying heel stable Heisei Ishingun. Goto and Ohara were a tag team called Mad Dogs (though their tights in this match say Stray Dogs) and would win the tag titles later in the year. As usual with these undercard tags we're going to skim through it a bit. Fujinami hits his spots early, getting in a dragon screw leg whip. Yasuda is one large guy. Fujinami tosses Goto to the floor and teases a dive but doesn't go through with it. Yasuda plays face in peril for a while, including taking a running lariato on the entrance ramp. The Dogs hit a double hot shot. Yasuda comes back with an avalanche and double underhook suplex. A Dogs double team sets off a donnybrook. Yasuda hits a powerbomb for 2. His partners set him up to hit a splash off the top rope, and that gets the pin. **

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Kendo Kashin and Dr. Wagner Jr def Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa (c) in 16:53- The junior tag titles are here! The tag titles were split in August of '98. Up until then the tag titles were unofficially considered openweight even though it was very rare for a junior wrestler to be on a champion team, but now there are distinct heavyweight and junior heavyweight titles, with the heavyweight titles keeping the lineage of the original tag titles. Otani and Takaiwa were the first junior champions, and this is a rematch of the tournament finals to determine the inaugural champs. Wagner and Takaiwa start. Wagner gives Takaiwa a clean rope break. On the next exchange Takaiwa returns the favor. Wagner monkey flips out of an arm wringer. Takaiwa chops only wake Wagner up. He shouts "COME ON!" and Takaiwa floors him with a punch. Otani comes in with a boot choke. Wagner lifts him by that leg and drags him over to his corner. Otani and Kashin go at it. Otani does his trademark boot scrapes, even getting extra momentum from his partner for one. Kashin camel clutches Takaiwa, then Wager comes in, hits the ropes over and over, rolls over, hits the ropes again, and finally basement dropkicks Takaiwa. Takaiwa blocks and hits a brain buster. He holds Wagner in a camel clutch like position, and Otani comes in hitting the ropes forever and rolling to mock Wagner's earlier sequence before hitting his own basement dropkick. Fantastic. Otani gets caught in the heel corner. gets propped in the corner and low blowed. New Japan ref lets it go. Kashin suplex and floatover, and he goes for his signature armbreaker. Otani blocks it. Wagner hits a dropkick and puts Otani in a surfboard. Otani bites a finger to get out of it! Takaiwa tags in and lights up Wagner. Wagner blocks a powerbomb, backdrops, Takaiwa rolls through and goes for it again. Wagner backs him into the corner and lifts him up. Wagner superplex! Takaiwa pops right back up! Both guys exchange lariatos with neither going down. Finally Takaiwa lariatos Wagner 360 to the floor. Wagner gets whipped into the guardrail. They fight up the ramp. Wagner lariato. He Michinoku Drivers Takaiwa on the ramp! Back in Kashin hits a neckbreaker. Delayed brain buster for 2. Takaiwa shrugs off the hurt neck and hits a scoop powerslam. Think all the neck damage was ignored a little too easily. He hot shots Kashin and tags out. Otani comes in with a springboard forearm. Spinning kick and German suplex. Kashin sunset flips and gives Otani another low blow! New Japan ref still lets it go. Wagner hits a missile dropkick and splash off the opposite top rope for 2. Otani dodges a senton off the second rope. Takaiwa hits a lariato and another powerslam. Rolling DVD for 2. Wagner senton off the top rope for 2. He cradles Takaiwa into a submission hold but Takaiwa quickly gets a foot on the rope. Big Wagner powerbobmb for a long 2. I don't know if it's because these new junior tag titles haven't been established yet or what but the crowd hasn't been into this match at all, that was a quality near fall with zero reaction. Wagner goes for another powerbomb. Takaiwa is supposed to counter it but he slips down and falls on his head. He quickly recovers for a cradle for 2. Both sides tag. Kashin and Otani do some cool dodges. Kashin gets the armbreaker! Otani immediately gets a foot on a rope. Takaiwa saves him from another armbreaker. Wagner and Takaiwa fight up the ramp as things start to break down. Kashin goes up top. Takaiwa runs in after laying out Wagner and lifts him up in a Doomsday Device position. Otani missile dropkick! Powerbomb followup! No cover. Otani hits his trademark dragon suplex! Kashin kicks out! Now the crowd's starting to come alive. Another Otani missile dropkick. Spinning powerbomb! Wagner JUST gets back from his apron beatdown and makes the save! Wagner hits a lariato as we go full DONNYBROOK. Kashin locks in the armbreaker again! No one is there to save Otani and he taps out! I was expecting more flippydo considering who was in there and it being for the junior tag titles, but it was still a good match with some nice tag psychology down the stretch. ***1/4

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Jushin Thunder Liger (c) def Koji Kanemoto in 23:11- These two have become regular Tokyo Dome opponents over the years and are probably the biggest rivalry in the junior division. Maybe ever, to this point. Liger is in his 9th run with the belt and approaching one full year for this reign, his second longest, and has started making the shotei (a running open hand slap) a bigger part of his arsenal. They go nose to nose during intros. Lockup and Kanemoto goes right into a slap, snap mares Liger over and lays in kicks. Liger grabs a leg and slaps back. Both guys are all kinds of fired up. A Kanemoto forearm and chop floors Liger. He hooks in a leg bar and they're both still jawing at each other. That continues off an on the whole match. Kanemoto works the leg for a bit. These guys definitely came ready for the Dome, everything in this match is super crisp. More kicks. Liger grabs one and gives Kanemoto a dragon screw! The hurt leg keeps Liger from following up and Kanemoto is right back on him. Liger works on top on the mat and hits some more stiff open hand strikes. Kanemoto blocks an armbreaker. Back to the kicks and he's on Liger's leg again. He pushes Liger to the floor. Liger takes his time shaking his knee off before getting back in. As soon as he does Kanemoto is back on it as he continues to dominate the match to this point. Kanemoto switches to chops and that fires Liger up as he chops back. Liger goes for a tiltawhirl. Kanemoto whirls through it and hits a backbreaker. More mat positioning. Liger hooks in a surfboard, moves around body parts, and ends up with Kanemoto in a reverse surfboard. He lifts Kanemoto for a Liger bomb. Kanemoto rolls through it and hits a high knee. Liger dodges a corckscrew senton off the second rope. Rolling kick! He runs into a Kanemoto back kick. This time Kanemoto hits the corkscrew off the second rope. A Liger German suplex flips Kanemoto over face first! Liger hurricanrana! Kanemoto rolls to the apron. Liger rolling kicks him off to the floor! Dive off the top rope to the floor! Liger brain buster on the floor! As Kanemoto gets up on the apron Liger hits the ropes, charges, but Kanemoto cuts him off with a hook kick and immediately collapses. Both guys are down. Liger goes for another German but Kanemoto flips through it and lands on his feet. Kanemoto belly to belly suplex! Ankle lock! Kanemoto swings Liger around to try to keep him in it but Liger eventually fights his way to the ropes. Kanemoto gives Liger a knee to the face and sets him on the top rope backwards. He does a throat slash gesture on the prone Liger. Kanemoto sets up a poisonrana! Liger blocks it! Fist drop off the top rope from Liger. He tries for the Liger bomb again. Kanemoto floats around and gives him a buckle bomb! Kanemoto superplex for 2. Moonsault! Liger kicks out! Tiger suplex! Liger gets free AND HULKS UP! Backbreaker and he slaps Kanemoto while he's across his knee. Corner shotei! The Liger bomb hits! Kanemoto kicks out! Top rope setup and Liger hits a super fisherman's buster! He hits the ropes and nails Kanemoto with a shotei in the back of his head! Cover and another kickout! Another Liger charge. Kanemoto cuts him off with his own shotei! Kanemoto pulls Liger up, slaps him disrespectfully and spits on him. Slam setup. Kanemoto corkscrew off the top rope! He covers then immediately pulls out of it. Oh he might regret that one. He sets Liger up top again. Liger fights him off and both guys are down again. Liger is up first and sets Kanemoto up in the opposite corner. Liger super brain buster! That gets the pin! Just a phenomenal match. One of Liger's best Dome matches, and that's saying a lot. Kanemoto got another shot at Liger in March and finally took him down, winning his third junior title. ****3/4

 

Kensuke Sasaki def Atsushi Onita by DQ in 5:55- Onita is generally credited as the originator of deathmatches in Japan. This is the first of several appearances he'd make in New Japan this year as a heel outsider from FMW (Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling). Onita's got a chair with him on his entrance and hits Sasaki in the head with it over the ref before the bell. He gets in the ring and hits Sasaki again, breaking the seat off the chair. No effect! Sasaki is in full Zeus mode. Sasaki lariato! Cover for 2. He drags Onita around by his jacket out to the ramp and chokes him with his own shirt. Onita throws his jacket at Sasaki and that doesn't work either. Onita takes a powder on the floor ringside. When he gets back in he gets pounded again. Back to the ramp. Sasaki says hit me and shrugs everything off. He pulls Onita up by his pants and tosses him. They go to ringside again and Onita dumps Sasaki over the guardrail into the officials' area. Another chairshot. Onita piledrives Sasaki through a table! They were very lucky that narrow table held its balance long enough for that, it was wobbling all over the place. And Sasaki pops right back up. We're getting into John Cena Summerslam '10 levels of egregious no selling here. Sasaki gives Onita his own chairshot. Back in Sasaki kills Onita with lariatos. In the corner Onita gets something out of his pockets and throws a fireball in Sasaki's face! That's a bridge too far and the ref calls for the DQ. After the match promos are cut and brawls are restarted and stopped again. There's fun garbage matches and garbage garbage matches. This was garbage garbage, though I suppose it did set Onita up as a mega heel for the rest of his appearances that year. 1/2*

 

NJPW vs UFO: Yuji Nagata def David Beneteau in 5:30- Benetau worked for the UFC in its early days. Apparently New Japan tried to book Dan Severn but Severn already had commitments elsewhere and he suggested Beneteau in his place. Beneteau ended up only having a handful of pro wrestling matches, this being one. The UFO guys have formed a stable called Club 245, which is why they all have 245 on the back of their tights. Nagata is now officially back from his WCW excursion and already had shots at the IWGP Heavyweight title. Both guys swing kicks and look for openings. Nagata tries a waistlock takedown. Beneteau gets Nagata against the ropes and pounds away, ignoring the ref. The ref gives him a warning. Belly to belly from Nagata and he tries an armbar. Beneteau ties them up in the ropes. Arm takedown by Nagata and he puts on a reverse ankle lock. Again Beneteau gets to the ropes. Beneteau lifts and slams Nagata. Again he refuses to break in the ropes and the ref gets on him again. Nagata kick to the head that staggers Beneteau. A couple more kicks and Nagata hooks on a triangle choke. Beneteau taps. Not the worst hybrid match I've seen. Thanks Nagata. *

 

NJPW vs UFO: Don Frye def Brian Johnston in 7:55- This is more UFO vs UFO as Frye and Johnston are both in Club 245 and have shoot fighting backgrounds. Frye was Inoki's opponent in his retirement match. Johnston charges down the ramp on his entrance, jumps over the top rope and onto Frye's back! Frye tosses him over for a takedown. The ref has to get in and physically force a rope break, and Johnston pushes him aside. Johnston pulls Frye up by the hair and punches him while he's hanging in the ropes. Frye goes to the apron to recover. Back in Frye catches a kick and gets a leg takedown. More ignoring of rope breaks by both guys. They're swinging haymakers in there and the crowd is into it. During a mat grapple I think I heard Johnston shout "fuck you" to the ref when asked if he wants to submit. So that's a no then? Headbutts from Johnston. Frye gets some shots in but Johnston responds and hits him to the floor. Frye gets Johnston in a sort of sleeper and Johnston pulls his hair again to get out. There's definitely a story in here at least, and that story is Johnston being a total dick using every cheap move in the book. Johnston lifts and slams Frye, ties his legs up and starts pounding on the back of his head. Frye just reaches out to grab a rope. They grapple on the ropes again and both guys go over the top to the floor! Some of Frye's seconds hold Johnston down and Frye punches him. Frye flips Johnston in the ring and pounds away on him. Johnston stops defending himself and the ref calls it. Huge boos for that result. Wait, Johnston was the face here? Really? The way he was acting? OK then. Match didn't suck though, shockingly. Unlike most shoot style fights both guys showed a lot of personality. **1/4

A quick note on the next match: on the last 1/4 show review I skipped over a match that wasn't in the NJPW World archives that also involved Ogawa. This next match is also missing, so I can conclude pretty definitively that Ogawa is one of the guys that's been wiped from the World archives. I was as OK as I could be (as a completionist) with skipping his match on the last show, but I mentioned in the open this was a historically important show, and this next match is the crux of it and it needs to be in here. Fortunately, the Internet Archive as a copy of the original VHS release of this show, so that's where we're getting this from.

 

NJPW vs UFO: Shinya Hashimoto and Naoya Ogawa no contest in 6:58- Ogawa was an Olympic silver medalist in judo, an MMA fighter and a favorite of Inoki, sometimes seen as Inoki's protege. Hashimoto spent most of the second half of the '90s as IWGP Heavyweight Champion and had been the company's most dominant champion of the era, all the while carefully cultivating an image for himself as one of wrestling's ultimate badasses. While it'd been over a year since he held the title, he did win the '98 G1 Climax as a sort of compensation. He's been moving more and more to these pesudo-shoot style matches and the rivalry between he and Ogawa had been going for a bit already. Trying to do a blow by blow recap of this match is pointless. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time but knownst to us now, Ogawa had orders from on high, possibly directly from Inoki himself, to go full shoot in this match and, this is the key, no one told Hashimoto. Or anyone else. What follows is 7 minutes of Ogawa pummeling Hashimoto with legitimate strikes as well as grabbing him in headlocks in corner breaks to keep him from escaping and generally making him look like a doofus. As the match goes on Hashimoto looks more and more shocked at what's going on, until the point he's been beaten to a pulp and can't do anything but lay on the entrance ramp. All the ringside New Japan wrestlers and either an official or maybe even a doctor come in to check on him. Ref Tiger Hattori, who took a couple of shots in all this as well, calls for the bell and throws the match out. Up until this point Hashimoto had been considered one of the toughest guys to ever get in a wrestling ring. That's been destroyed forever. Ogawa, who'd spent much of the match dancing around like a cocky son of a bitch, takes the mic and says something stupid that really sets everyone off. There's a near brawl between the New Japan and UFO guys at ringside. After another few minutes Riki Choshu himself comes out to the ring. He'd retired from wrestling on the last show but was New Japan's head booker at this time, and he's PISSED. He wants to get in a fight right then and there with Ogawa but is held back by Hashimoto and a few others. Every single bit of this is a shoot, out in the open and in front of everyone. This match is the birth of Inokism, the Inoki driven style of mixing more and more shoot fighting into wrestling matches and it's no exaggeration to say that it was so bad it almost put New Japan completely out of business. More on that as we get into it. As far as this match goes, I have a hard time putting a rating on it considering everything, but it's an absolute train wreck and leads to the darkest period in New Japan history so really there's only one way to go. MINUS FIVE STARS

 

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Tencozy def Genichiro Tenryu and Shiro Koshinaka (c) in 16:35- Tenryu's promotion WAR (who were part of interpromotional battles with New Japan on the early 1/4 shows) was starting to go under so he's doing another swing through New Japan, and to make things interesting he's joined Heisei Ishingun. Tencozy are our first NWO Japan members to wrestle tonight, but the group will be well represented these last two matches. Interestingly, both Tenzan and Kojima have already had multiple tag title reigns, but none of them paired up together as Tencozy. Tencozy try to jump before the bell but get jumped instead. Kojima is double teamed. Kojima and Koshinaka smack their heads against each other like a couple of drunk Klingons. Tenzan and Tenyru have a shoulderblock standoff. Tenzan wins the next exchange. Dropkick by Tenzan, followed by a slam and throat chop. Kojima hits a senton. Chops from Kojima are shrugged off by Tenryu at first but more chops wear him down. Kojima gets whipped into a Koshinaka hip attack. Koshinaka suplex on Tenzan for 2. Tenzan hits Mongolian chops and his low diving headbutt. He and Koshinaka do some more Klingons after too much blood wine head knocking. Kojima does a great delayed flop on a Tenyru chop. Always love that. Corner lariato from Tenyru, and an enzuguri pushes Kojima into a Koshinaka hip attack. Tenyru back suplex for 2. Koshinaka Russian leg sweep. Double enzuguri from the HI team. They go to the ramp and Tenyru does a ramp charge lariato. Kojima comes back with a Saito suplex on Koshinaka and tags out. Tenzan spinning heel kick for 2. The HI team run Tenzan into an exposed turnbuckle in their corner. Another Tenyru enzuguri for 2. Double shoulderblock. Koshinaka DDT for 2. Big chops from Tenryu and he hits his diving back elbow off the top rope. Kojima breaks the pin up. Tenzan hulks up on more Tenyru chops and responds with Mongolian chops. HI runs in for a double team. Tenyru gives Kojima a Kojicutter off the second rope! Kojima pops right back up! Kojicutter proper on Tenyru! Lariatos and cover for 2. Powerbomb from Kojima. He hits the elbow off the top rope and covers. Koshinaka breaks the pin up. Tag and Koshinaka runs into lariatos. Another Kojima elbow off the top for 2. The NWO team hits a double chop and a Tenzan lariato for 2. Samoan drop. Tenyru runs in, lariatos Tenzan but ends up draped over the top rope. Kojima Kojicutters him from the apron over the top rope! Koshinaka hip attack off the apron! Tenzan goes to the top rope and MOONSAULTS ONTO EVERYONE ON THE FLOOR! Corner lariato on Koshinaka back in. Kneedrop off the top rope. More lariatos and a cover. Koshinaka kicks out! Tenyru enzuguris Tenzan from the apron and again everyone's in the pool. Kojicutter. Hip attack. Tenzan hits a spinning heel kick off the top rope. Headbutt off the top rope! Tenzan gets the pin and NWO Japan gets the tag titles back! Not too shabby, and definitely a breath of fresh air after the disaster of the last match. ***1/2

 

A little setup for the main event: NWO Japan leader Masahiro Chono ended Fujinami's sixth and final title reign in August '98, winning the Heavyweight title for the first time after years of trying. Unfortunately it was to be short lived as he suffered a neck injury less than two months later and had to vacate the title (and even worse he never won the title again despite all his G1 wins). After his injury he also left NWO Japan. When he came back from injury he formed a rival faction, Team 2000. Scott Norton, who had wrestled for both New Japan and WCW for many years and was also a member of the original NWO in the US, won the tournament for the vacant title, defeating young Yuji Nagata in the final and becoming just the second gaijin Heavyweight champion ever, after Vader.

 

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Keiji Mutoh def Scott Norton (c) in 19:01- Mutoh took over leadership of NWO Japan after Chono's injury and group departure, making this an inter-NWO battle. The big story here, besides that, is Mutoh's inability to win big matches ever since he lost the Heavyweight title to outsider Nobuhiko Takada at the '96 Jan. 4 show, a streak he's desperately trying to break. Feeling out start. Norton holds a facelock and armbar for a while, but then lets Mutoh up. The original NWO was a den of theives, but the Japan branch still has some honor. Norton hits chops. Mutoh dodges in the corner and hits a hiptoss, then hooks on an arm scissors. For a while. Really slow start to this match. Norton is up with a lariato. Mutoh dodges another one, hits a dropkick and drop toe hold into some more arm work. Norton fights off an armbreaker and deadlift slams Mutoh. More chops put Mutoh down. Lariato. Mutoh dodges an elbow drop. Handspring elbow! Faceplant. Norton scoop powerslam for 2. Tackle and shoulderbreaker from Norton. He lifts Mutoh for a powerbomb. Mutoh turns it into a hurricanrana! Dropkick off the top rope to Norton's knee. Norton goes to the apron. Mutoh slides out and dragon screws Norton off the apron! Another dragon screw in the ring. Figure four! Norton fights and gets to the ropes. Mutoh dropkick to the knee. Norton lariato. And again, both of them. On the third exchange Mutoh ducks the lariato and hits another dropkick. Another dragon screw and back to the figure four. Norton has a long fight and eventually makes it to the ropes. Norton fights off another dragon screw. Powerbomb! But he can't follow up with the hurt knee. Mutoh slips out of a suplex and goes right back on the knee. Another figure four and another just barely to the ropes reach for Norton. Mutoh missile dropkick. Norton gets another scoop powerslam for 2. He shakes the knee off and goes up top. Tackle off the top rope. He's slow to cover and Mutoh kicks out. Norton headbutts. He goes for another powerbomb. The knee gives out! Another dragon screw. Mutoh moonsault! Norton kicks out! Another missile dropkick to the knee and the figure four is back on. All the knee work has worn Norton down too much and he has to tap out! Mutoh finally gets the big match monkey off his back and wins the Heavyweight title for the third time! They hug it out after the match and all of NWO Japan celebrates in the ring with all the hardware they've won tonight. The match was disappointing for a Dome main event (it's got Scott Norton in it, only so much you can do), but Mutoh gave it his all and the psychology was tight with Mutoh staying laser focused on the knee and getting the win with it. **1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The junior title match steals the show and both tag title matches are worth a look. The main event isn't great but it is a really good moment. But you can't ignore the fact that most of the matches on this show are not up to par, topped off by the Ogawa/Hashimoto train wreck that leads to an even bigger long term train wreck that almost destroys the whole company. I'll give the final grade a small bump for historical significance, good or bad.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-