WWF/AJPW/NJPW Wrestling Summit

Legacy Review

WWF/AJPW/NJPW Wrestling Summit

April 13, 1990 from the Tokyo Dome (aired on tape delay in Japan in May)

Yes, this is a show that really happened. I'm honestly not sure what spurred on WWF's sudden desire to try to forge some links in Japan, you know Vince and his whims, but it's something they'd keep at over the next couple of years before giving up and basically ceding the territory to WCW. While WWF was freshly coming off of Wrestlemania 6 and the big changing of the guard at the top there, New Japan and All Japan had just held their successful first essentially joint show in the Dome (it was solely promoted by New Japan but featured several cross promotional matches) just a couple of months ago in February. All of the crossover matches are WWF vs All Japan and this is mostly their show, New Japan only sent a few guys over and they all only wrestled each other on dark matches.

Instead of a single broadcast, this was split into three parts to be shown on TV in Japan over three successive weeks. It was never fully aired in the US. Due to the conflicting rights issues this show is now the wrestling equivalent of abandonware. Officially it's not available on any streaming service and never got a home release beyond the original Japanese VHS, but there are copies of said VHS to be found online without having to look too hard. It's mostly only Japanese commentary with this, unless otherwise noted.

Preshow Bonus Match: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Jushin Thunder Liger def Akira Nogami in 8:37- This was one of two preshow dark matches. It wasn't officially filmed in any way, but an enterprising fan recorded it on his 1990s camcorder from up in the upper deck of the Dome and that's since found its way onto Al Gore's interwebs. Good thing too, you can never have enough of Liger in the Tokyo Dome no matter what the quality. It's a shame he wasn't booked on the main card against a WWF guy like Mr. Perfect or Bret Hart. If I have my dates right I'm pretty sure this is Akira's sendoff match before going on excursion. Due to the nature of this recording I'll do the best I can, but it's really good quality considering the source. They do some mat wrestling headlock/headscissors tradeoffs at the start. Akira goes for the leg while Liger focuses on an arm. Akira takes a page out of Liger's book with a modified surfboard, almost a vertical bow and arrow. BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK bodydrop from Akira into a half crab. After a chop exchange Liger goes down and Akira puts the full Boston crab on. Corner running high knee from Akira. Liger reverses going the other way and hits a corner dropkick. Drop toe hold and it's surfing time. And he holds it FOREVER, even pumping Akira up and down in it a bit. Younger Liger, man. He then transitions into a camel clutch. Then he stretches Akira's arms out and lifts him up in a I don't even know what to call that. Liger tries to leverage Akira down for a pin. Akira dodges a Liger dropkick and he hits his own coming back the other way. Liger cinches up for a dragon suplex. Akira slips out and rolls Liger up for 2. Suplex counters and Akira gets a victory roll for 2. A dropkick sends Liger to the floor. Akira crossbody off the top to the floor! Back in Akira gets a German suplex for 2. He tries coming off the top but Liger dropkicks him in midair! Akira rolls out to the floor. Liger diving cannonball off the top to the floor! Back in Akira ducks a spinning heel kick but Liger recovers to hit a powerslam for 2. Liger standing moonsault! That gets the pin! Fine preshow match that was all it needed to be. **1/2

 

"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka and Tito Santana def Kenta Kobashi and AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion Masanobu Fuchi in 8:28- The WWF guys come out together to Santana's music. I like the way the ring setup is a mix. The ropes are colored WWF red white and blue, but are the covered cable ropes from Japan rather than ROPE ropes WWF has always used. Even to this day. The ring mat is a slightly darker shade of the usual WWF light blue, WWF turnbuckle pads are on, and the ring posts are mostly blue but one is red in deference to the "red corner/blue corner" system Japan uses. The ring steps are also the small ladder ones from Japan rather than the huge WWF corner stairs. Very young Shane McMahon is reffing this match. I think I have Kobashi and Fuchi straight but apologies if I don't. I'm sure you can tell from my other reviews I'm a New Japan guy, not All Japan. Kobashi and Santana start. After a lockup and break they try some waistlock grappling that ends in a standing stalemate. Fuchi seems to have his gander up about something. Kobashi powers out of a Santana headlock and we have a top wristlock leverage fight with another break. Now Snuka's worked up about something. Fuchi gets in the ring to tell him off. Snuka also starts to get in and Shane has to get some order restored. Speed/counter run and Santana hits a lariato for 2. After some shots he tosses Kobashi out to the floor and gets on the ropes to brag to the crowd. That gets a 50/50 reaction at best. Back in Santana hits the gut stomp and tosses Kobashi out the other side! He tells Fuchi to bring it while Snuka kicks Kobashi in the face from the apron. OK, the WWF guys, normally faces, have clearly decided to play heel for the Japanese crowd. Very nice. Kobashi comes back in with a springboard crossbody on Santana for 2! Fuchi tags in to a pretty big pop and lays into Santana with a ton of punches. He mixes in a couple of kicks to the face and slams Santana. Running enziguri! Kobashi hits a shotgun dropkick off the top. Snuka breaks the pin up and we're already DONNYBROOKING. Fuchi gives Snuka a missile dropkick. Santana blocks a Kobashi suplex, hits his own, and tags. Snuka chop on Kobashi. Kobashi gets a springboard reverse crossbody for 2. Crossbody off the top for 2. Fuchi comes in and slams Snuka. On a speed run Snuka drops down and Fuchi actually trips over him! I think that's the first time in the thousands of wrestling matches I've watched in my life I've ever seen that work! I also don't think it was intentional, everyone looks surprised for a second then Fuchi belatedly clutches his knee like he hurt it, which is almost immediately forgotten about. Snuka started to come back up early, I think that's what caused it. Another big chop from Snuka. Fuchi dodges a diving headbutt. Backdropeh suplex for 2. Fuchi backdrops, proper backdrops, Snuka but Snuka had his hand wrapped around Fuchi's head and drags him down too. I also don't think that was intentional. Snuka hits a headbutt and mercifully tags out. Santana has dropkicks all day for everyone. He calls for the flying jalapeno on Fuchi, and it hits! No cover, instead he tags Snuka in. Santana takes Kobashi out with the flying burrito. Superfly splash on Fuchi! That gets the pin. Pretty fun match with a nice role reversal from the WWF guys, but that ugly Snuka/Fuchi stretch drug it down. **1/4

 

Bret "Hitman" Hart and Tiger Mask go to a 20:00 Time Limit Draw- This match isn't as big as it would have been a couple of years later as Bret was still mostly seen as "just" a tag wrestler. This is only about a month before Misawa unmasked and abandoned the Tiger Mask gimmick, which only catapulted his career even further. Book a WWF Champion era Bret Hart against Misawa around '94-'96 and you'd have an epic dream match. This match actually was released in the US as part of the Bret Hart Dungeon Collection, a pre-WWE Network DVD/blu ray compilation of some of Bret's rare and unaired matches. The video I'm watching has put that copy of this match in. Which proves WWE has this show somewhere in their vaults and should put it up in full, especially in this new era where cross-company partnerships aren't looked down on anymore. The bell rings and Bret hops out. The crowd boos because they think he's stalling, but it's just to do the traditional giving the sunglasses to a ringside kid. There's no commentary for this match on this copy, which means we can hear everything happening in the ring super clearly. A couple of lockup stalemates to start. Speed run and TM gets a couple of armdrags. Bret tries to slam out of an armbar but TM rolls through and hangs on to it. Another speed run ends with Bret blocking a roll up but TM rolling through that and hitting a dropkick that sends Bret out to the floor to a big pop. TM loads up for a dive, but sees Bret moving out of the drop zone and flips over onto the apron instead. Back in TM gets back on Bret's arm. Apart from that one flurry the pace has been very pedestrian thus far, even for someone like me that likes all this groundwork mat wrestling stuff. TM ducks under a Bret lariato attempt and crucifixes him for 2. Another armdrag from TM and we're back on the arm. I'm starting to think I might need my Rotunda Time clock the match is moving so slow. Off a corner whip TM hits a springboard reverse crossbody, but Bret rolls through it for 2. And Bret quickly slaps on a chinlock right after. Not a good sign. They just sit there for a solid minute doing nothing. Now Bret works a headlock. Another basic speed sequence and TM dodges a Bret dropkick. He slingshots Bret into the corner. Flipover and, guess what, back on the arm. The ref asks Bret and he shouts "NO I said, are you deaf?!". That was funny at least. They have a bit of a fumble as TM tries to put on another crucifix. Bret blocks it and drops him down Samoan drop style. Bret elbow drop to the head. Slam and another elbow. And we're chinlocking again. TM hits a spin kick, then baseball slides Bret out to the floor. TM running plancha! The ref counts and suddenly I wonder, whose countout rules are we using tonight? WWF 10 count or a Japan 20 count since we're in the Tokyo Dome? Something to watch for later. Back in TM tries to stretch out a cross armbreaker but Bret gets a rope break. The arm work is clearly paying off as Bret is shaking it off. I think they had a plan, they just could have executed it a bit better. TM tries to kick the arm but Bret ducks in the ropes in the corner. Midring reset and TM grabs the arm again. Totally naff soulderblock. Bret leapfrogs and hurts his knee! Oh, we've seen this before. Yup, when TM's not looking Bret waffles him with a lariato! Classic Bret. That gets a lot of boos from the Dome crowd. Bret rolls through what would become usual Five Moves of Doom stuff. Gut stomp. Backbreaker for 2. He hits a couple of  European uppercuts. On the third TM grabs his arm and backslides him for 2. Headbutt from Bret. Back elbow. He tosses TM out to the floor and plays to the crowd for some boos. Russian leg sweep back in. Then, once again, to the chinlock. Now Bret's shouting "ASK HIM!". TM flips through another backbreaker attempt and slams Bret. Bret picks TM up by the legs and drops him spine first on his knee! OK, I don't think I've ever seen that one before. That was nasty looking. Snap suplex from Bret for 2, and again to the chinlock. The time limit stall is in full force. I haven't been hearing the minutes elapsed calls you normally get in Japan but I think we're down to about 5 minutes left. They're killing a solid two minutes right here in this hold. Bret lets go and switches to an abdominal stretch. Well, we're in Japan, cobra twist. TM reverses it and Bret quickly hiptosses him over. TM reverses a corner whip but Bret gets a boot up. TM dodges an elbow off the second rope. Crossbody off the top from TM for 2. Bret bump! TM covers for 2. While TM is running the ropes the bell rings for the time limit expiring to a decent sized boo from the crowd. As many others have commented over the years, it's not flat out horrible, but it is an extreme disappointment. They were clearly in time limit stall mode the entire match. There was also rumors that Bret didn't want to work with TM because he was "only" a junior heavyweight. **

 

The Great Kabuki def Greg Valentine in 7:18- Valentine is still in dyed black hair Rhythm and Blues mode, his very ill conceived tag pairing with Honky Tonk Man. Kabuki shows off the nunchuck skills and lets some red mist off during his entrance. Shane is reffing again. Looks like we're trading off as a New Japan ref worked the last match. Valentine gets a shoulderblock, drops a standing elbow and hits a chop. Kabuki dodges a charging elbow in the corner and we get a great camera shot from the apron of Valentine running into the corner. Kabuki slowly lays in a few shots. Valentine flop! Kabuki covers for 2. Valentine double underhook suplex for 2. More Valentine chops in the corner. Suplex for 2. Valentine dodges in the corner and Kabuki is in the tree of woe. Valentine kicks away on him until Shane stops him and gets Kabuki free. Classic Valentine diving heabutt to the gut. He does his awful Honky Tonk Man ripoff dancing to rile the crowd up. His tiny, thick arms don't bend enough to do that properly. Now Valentine starts going after the knee. He goes for the figure four. Kabuki blocks it and rolls Valentine up for 2. After a few shots Kabuki puts on a Boston crab. Valentine gets to the ropes and begs off. When Kabuki goes for a kick Valentine punches the knee he was working on. Kneebreaker. Valentine calls for the figure four, but then dances some more instead. Finally he goes for it. Kabuki Paul Smackage counter! That gets the pin. *1/4

 

Jake "The Snake" Roberts def The Big Boss Man in 10:25- An all WWF battle here. Boss Man had turned face earlier in the year but the Japanese crowd might not have been fully caught up on WWF events so I assume he's going to be the heel here. He has his heel sunglasses on and is definitely acting heelish on his entrance. Hebner gets the call to ref this match. It's kinda cool seeing these WWF entrances in the Dome with Japanese commentary. Worlds colliding. Boss Man shows the power advantage on the lockup. Roberts tries to crank on Boss Man's arm. Hiptoss from Boss Man. Roberts dodges an elbow drop and does the usual early DDT tease. Boss Man rolls out for a think. Back in he works Roberts' arm a bit while grabbing a handful of hair. A Roberts back elbow sends Boss Man tumbling back out to the floor. He shouts something something "asshole" at a ringside fan before getting back in. Shoulderblock standoff. Boss Man hits a spinebuster. He knocks Roberts around a bit, mostly focusing on the back. Backbreaker and stretch. The camera focuses on a group of (likely drunk) American fans chanting something at Boss Man. Corner avalanche from Boss Man. He slaps Roberts to try to get him going. Bear hug! Boss Man lets go pretty quickly but continues on the back. Lariato. All this Roberts in peril stuff is doing its job at getting the crowd right riled up at Boss Man. Boss Man spits on Roberts while he's down. Another shot to the back and Roberts signals like he's just about had enough. Body slam and Boss Man goes up top. Commentary sounds shocked which is really funny. Roberts dodges the big splash and Boss Man slides all the way out to the floor! Roberts snaps Boss Man's arm around the ring post! Classic Roberts comeback jabs back in. Arm wring up and short clothesline. He goes for the running kneelift, but Boss Man blocks and Roberts crashes into the corner with a great ugly looking fall. Boss Man scoops for another slam. Roberts slips out and hits the DDT outta nowhere! No one gets up from that. I think it was the most protected finisher of the era. After the bell Damien comes out to play. I'm certainly no expert but I think commentary called Damien a heavyweight. I hope so, that made me laugh. Nicely done all around. **3/4

 

Another untaped dark match took place here according to the rundowns, an IWGP tag title match with champions Shinya Hashimoto and Masa Saito successfully defending against Masahiro Chono and Riki Choshu in a straight New Japan battle. It's a shame it wasn't recorded, and even more of a shame none of these guys got booked in matches against WWF guys, particularly Hashimoto or Choshu. Saito worked in the US a fair amount and, frankly, is not on the level of the other three guys, while Chono did a lot with WCW after their partnership with New Japan got going. Though I'm not sure if there was anyone on the WWF roster at the time who could have gotten everything out of a Choshu or Hashimoto match, both very stiff workers even by New Japan standards.

 

Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion Jumbo Tsuruta and Haku def Mr. Perfect and "The Model" Rick Martel in 10:53- One of the plusses of having an essentially "non-canon" show like this, at least on the WWF side, is you can have crazy pairings like this. Haku and Perfect were stablemates in the Heenan Family but are on opposite sides here. Heenan himself didn't make the trip. The best reason I can think of for Perfect and Martel teaming is they were both in AWA, in fact both former AWA World champions, and babyface champions at that, and that was the American promotion most known to Japanese audiences at the time, at least the one that interacted with promotions in Japan the most. Perfect is on also the verge of winning the Intercontinental title for the first time. It was currently vacant after Warrior won the WWF Title while IC champ, no double champions back then. This match is JIP'd with Haku hitting Perfect with a dropkick. Double lariato with a huge classic Perfect sell. Might have been trying to do the full 360 but he was running too fast. Tsuruta hooks on a cobra twist. Martel comes in and breaks it up. Big chops from Perfect and he pounds Tsuruta down. Snap mare/neck snap combo. Tsuruta blocks a punch and slams Perfect. Haku comes in with a superkick and chops. Gut stomp on Perfect. Standing dropkick from Haku! He goes for a senton but Perfect dodges. Tag to Martel. Martel slams Haku twice and drops elbows on his back. Commentary is talking about "AWA champion" so I'm thinking my theory on why Perfect and Martel are teaming is correct. Hiptoss from Martel. He hops on Haku's shoulders and hurricanranas him for 2! Damn, where has this Martel been in WWF? Perfect-assisted slingshot splash from Martel for 2. Martel hops up for another hurricanrana. Haku drops him down hot shot style in the corner! Martel is still up first and tags. Dropkick from Perfect on Haku for 2. Double slam from the Perfect/Martel team. Martel goes for the Boston crab. Haku fights but Martel slowly gets him over. Tsuruta comes in and breaks it up. Abdominal stretch from Perfect. The All Japan ref has to stop Tsuruta from coming in again and Haku eye rakes out, but again Perfect was up first and tags out. Suplex from Martel. Kneedrop for 2. Haku gives Perfect a shot in the throat, but Martel eye rakes him from the apron. Backbreaker from Martel. He goes for a splash off the second rope. Haku gets his knees up! Tag to Tsuruta! Backdrop on Martel. Slam. Another. Perfect comes in and gets slammed. Martel jumps Tsuruta from behind and it's DONNYBROOK time. Perfect and Martel get whipped into each other. A superkick from Haku sends Perfect flying over the top rope to the floor. Tsuruta high knee on Martel. Backdropeh suplex! Tsuruta gets the pin! Perfect managed to do one last 360 over the top rope too. It's a damn shame the first part of the match was clipped off, what we saw was pretty freaking good. ***1/4

Genichiro Tenryu def "Macho King" Randy Savage (w/Queen Sherri) in 10:49- Tenyru was originally scheduled to face Hogan in the main event, but reportedly Vince asked for an American wrestler in that slot for marketing purposes. I'd call this a very acceptable substitute for Tenryu, even though Savage had been mired in midcard hell and a hugely disappointing feud with Dusty Rhodes since losing the WWF Title a year earlier and hadn't really shown what he could do in the ring in full for a while. The Japanese ring announcer does intros for this match, which is 100% right for a match like this in the Dome. The atmosphere at the start is absolutely electric. Epic match feel in full. Shoving and Savage loses the top. The crowd's going bonkers for everything. Savage gets the first shots in. Tenryu reverses a whip and loads up an elbow, but Savage grabs the top rope and slides out. HUGE boos for that. Reset lockup. Suplex fight. Tenryu wins, but Savage flips over and lands on his feet. Tenryu was ready for him and pummels him with chops! Machine gun chops in the corner and Savage goes down! Sherri gets on the apron to distract and Savage runs Tenryu over from behind. Another whip reversal and Tenryu hits a lariato for 2. Savage counters a backdrop attempt. He charges. Tenryu backdrops him over the top rope all the way out to the floor! Huge Savage air on that. Tenryu crossbody off the apron to the floor. Sherri runs up and hits Tenryu from behind. Again Savage uses the distraction to ambush. He throws Tenryu onto a ringside table! Pretty sure that's commentary. The people ringside do not like that and Sherri gets into it with them. Savage gives Tenryu a few shots around the lighting support pillar before they get back in the ring. Tenryu gets a boot up in the corner. Enziguri! Phenomenal wobblelegged sell from Savage on that. Savage comes back up with a lariato for 2. Savage goes full heel with punches and chokes, then tosses the New Japan ref away when he tries to stop it. Another lariato for 2. They look like they're positioning for Savage to 360 Tenryu to the floor, but when Savage hits the lariato Tenryu goes down against the ropes instead. Savage then chokes him against the ropes. Sherri comes up and gets her shot in. Now Tenryu goes to the floor. Savage double ax handle off the top to the floor! Tenryu bounces off the guardrail off that. Savage gets back in and Sherri knocks Tenryu over the guardraul! Savage goes out with him and gives him some shots in the front row. Kick from Sherri to Tenryu's back. Double ax handle off the top back in from Savage for 2. Slam and kneedrop for 2. Savage goes up top to finish it. The flying elbow hits! Tenryu kicks out! Savage comes off the top again. Tenryu catches him with a shot in the gut! He hooks up for the powerbomb. Savage backdrops out. Savage crossbody off the top! He hurt his knee on the landing! HUGE enziguri from Tenryu! Powerbomb! Tenryu wins! HUGE pop for the win! Just a week after this show Tenryu would have his last match with All Japan before leaving to form his own promotion, SWS (Super World of Sports). You'll be hearing a lot more about them in connection with WWF later. There were some parts that didn't come off quite as well as they wanted and as usual for the time might have had a bit too much Sherri, but in the long run it hurt nothing as that was a fantastic match with two legends at the top of their game squeezing as much into 10 minutes as they possibly could. It's matches like this that shows like this are all about. ****

 

WWF Championship: The Ultimate Warrior (c) def "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase in 6:12- The second of the two all WWF matches tonight, this is Warrior's first televised defense of the title he won at WM. Hey, Vince is on commentary! "We're at the Egg Dome in Tokyo, Japan!". Jesse Ventura is with him. I'm assuming that means this match was shown on WWF TV at some point with commentary that was recorded later, as was the norm then. Prime Time Wrestling is most likely. Tonight's Warrior belt strap color is white. He's wearing the same gear as WM 6. Good thing he didn't have to run the whole modern Tokyo Dome entrance ramp. DiBiase jumps Warrior from behind before the bell while Warrior still has the belt on! He pummels Warrior with chops in the corner as the belt comes off. Corner whip reversal and Warrior hits a backdrop. Slam. 360 clothesline and DiBiase goes to the floor. DiBiase does the usual stalling out there. Warrior tosses DiBiase out of a lockup. Vince wonders where Virgil is. I was asking the same thing. Vince says he got stuck in customs in Honolulu. DiBiase tries to work a headlock. Warrior lifts him up and flat tosses him across the ring. Knee to the gut from DiBiase and some more chops. Another headlock grind. Warrior kicks off a criss cross. Midring collision and DiBiase goes down! That was pretty full speed. Warrior goes for the flying tackle. DiBiase dodges and Warrior splats on the mat! Clothesline. Slow cover for 2. Kneelift. An eye rake cuts off Warrior comeback. More chops in the corner. Warrior ducks and gives DiBiase a buckle shot! Kick from DiBiase, followed by a snap mare. Fistdrop. Snap suplex with a big kickout at 2. Piledriver from DiBiase! Another 2 count, but Hebner also should have seen Warrior had a foot under the ropes. Would have really stood out if they were using a New Japan ring mat with the white out of bounds area. Warrior fires up and starts hitting the running clotheslines. He builds up lots of momentum and hits a flying clothesline. Big splash! Title defense one, check. V1 as they'd say in Japan. Perfectly solid with DiBiase controlling almost the whole match. **1/2

 

Andre the Giant and Giant Baba def WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition in 6:39- From the WWF perspective this is a bit of a revenge match, after Demolition defeated Andre and Haku at WM to win the titles for a then-record third time. Andre turned back face after that match, but there was no way he'd ever be booked as a heel in Japan anyway. He's hit the point he didn't need to be wrestling anymore and this would be one of his last matches under the WWF umbrella, but he would continue to wrestle in All Japan nearly full time almost right up to his death in January '93. Baba is a legend also getting toward the end of his career, and was the original co-founder of All Japan. As the name would suggest he's a pretty tall dude himself, almost as tall as Andre. The All Japan ref is in for this one. Baba starts out with Smash. Again the WWF guys are playing the heels and Smash gets into it with the crowd before getting going. Shots from Smash are pretty much no sold. I think. It's hard to tell with Baba at this stage. Whip reversal and Smash bounces off a Baba chop like he just ran into a rubber wall. He ends up in the wrong corner and Andre shouts in his face from the apron! Fantastic. Then Andre chops him. Baba and Smash go back and forth a bit more before Andre tags in to a huge pop. He does the usual late career Andre stuff to Smash. Smash dodges a butt splash and tags. Ax runs in and axes Andre down. Then Smash smashes him down. Demolition quick tag to keep Andre down. Ax drops an elbow on Andre but Andre grabs him after, drags him to his corner and tags. Baba walks all over Ax's gut. Ax hits some shots and tags. The Demos double pound on Baba with more barely any selling. Baba fights out of the Demos corner. Swinging neckbreaker on Smash. Ax breaks the pin up. Andre tags in and asks Smash to hit him. Smash does. Andre hits back harder. Ax tags in and gets choked and drug around by the straps on his gear. Smash comes in and the Demos double pound Andre down again. Smash hits a lariato that wobbles Andre. Baba comes in. EVERYONE IN THE POOL! The Demos get whipped into each other. Baba hits a big boot on Smash, Andre drops an elbow, and it's over. I get the spectacle and respect the legends, but the fact is both Andre and Baba were well past their in-ring sell by date at this point. Demolition tried their best to get something decent out of it. 3/4*

 

Hulk Hogan def Stan Hansen in 12:30- I mentioned earlier that originally this match was supposed to be Hogan vs Tenryu. After Vince asked for changes it became Hogan vs Terry Gordy. It had been agreed by everyone that Hogan would win this match clean since he'd just lost to Warrior at WM. Gordy reportedly didn't want to do the job because he thought it would hurt his credibility in Japan and bowed out. Option #3 became Stan Hansen, who was confident in his support in Japan and had no problem with taking the loss here. And he was right, he'd win the Triple Crown title for the first of four times soon after this show. We have post-show recorded WWF commentary again for this match, this time from Sean Mooney and Lord Alfred Hayes, so again this was likely shown on Prime Time Wrestling at some point. Hasnen knocks the WWF ring announcer down when he gets in the ring! Then the announcer dusts himself off and keeps going. Good man. Mooney goofs and calls Hogan the WWF Champion. Probably instinct, but you'd think they would have fixed that considering it's not live commentary. Commentary mentions Hogan is no stranger to Japan without getting into detail. In fact Hogan was a star in Japan, specifically in New Japan, before he hit it big in the US. Once again the crowd is eating everything up, but maybe not quite to the degree of the Savage/Tenryu match. Hebner is back in to ref this one. A couple of rough short lockups to start and Hogan maneuvers his way into a hammerlock. After a rope break Hogan gets a drop toe hold! Yup, this is the Japan version of Hogan that will actually wrestle. Another rope break and Hansen is angry. Er. Arm wringer/armbar combo from Hansen and Hogan takes a rope break. Another Hogan drop toe hold and he tries to grind Hansen over on the mat, getting a 2 count. Another reset and lots of caution from both guys. Slugfest! Both guys rake eyes! It's already a brawl. Hansen rakes Hogan's face against the top rope and tosses him out to the floor. Hogan blocks a post shot and posts Hansen. He runs Hansen into a large piece of tech that's ringside. Hansen's busted open! Back suplex back in from Hogan for 2. He punches away at Hansen's cut and covers again for 2. Hansen tumbles out to the floor again. Hogan kicks him in the head over and over from the ring. Back in Hogan wraps up a cobra twist. Hansen flips him over to get out but Hogan is right back on him. Big corner chops. Hansen tumbles out again and we're on the floor. A punch from Hogan sends Hansen falling back over one of the ringside tables! HOGAN SLAMS HANSEN ON A TABLE! And it's a Japanese table, that sumabitch isn't going to break. Another post shot for Hansen. Cover back in for 2. Corner clothesline. Hogan continues to pummel Hansen's cut forehead with shots. More chops. Another corner charge. Hansen gets his boot up! He pops out of the corner and tackles Hogan! Quick cradle from Hansen for 2. Hogan rolls out for some space and Hansen follows. Hansen tosses Hogan into the ringside table area, I'm pretty sure where Japanese commentary is. Chairshot to Hogan's head! Now Hogan's bleeding. Knee and then a boot right to Hogan's face to work the cut. Hansen leaps over the rail to tackle Hogan in the ringside area! Another table goes down. Back in Hansen drops a double ax handle and covers for 2. Now Hansen punches away on Hogan's split open forehead. They go outside again. Hogan grabs Hansen's rope and tries to choke him with it. Not a good move. Hansen grabs it and whips him with it. He continues the beatdown on Hogan in the ring. Hansen sets up for the big lariato. Hogan cuts it off with a running elbow! He goes for the legdrop! Hansen dodges and covers for 2! Hogan crossbody for 2! Hansen goes for a roll up but Hogan blocks. Hansen runs into a big boot! Hogan covers and gets the win! Damn good main event. They worked really well together in what was mainly a Hansen style brawl with Hogan seamlessly going back to his Japan playbook. ***3/4

 

Before getting to the overall show wrapup, a few words on where these companies went from here. New Japan, who only had tertiary involvement with this show, would form a long term partnership with WCW not long after. They held their first of three yearly joint shows in the Tokyo Dome the following March. The second of those was also the very first January 4th New Japan Dome show, the start of an annual tradition that would become Wrestle Kingdom. New Japan also continued to hold regular joint shows with All Japan until the Keiji Mutoh-led mass defection from New Japan to All Japan in 2002 that soured corporate relations and ended their partnership. For whatever reason WWF and All Japan wouldn't pursue any future partnerships. All Japan would choose to focus on the home front rather than try to forge any more American alliances. Meanwhile, WWF would continue to try to partner with a company in Japan, turning their attention to the newly formed SWS. The following March, less than two weeks after the first NJPW/WCW joint show, those two companies would hold their first joint show in the Tokyo Dome, the first of what would be three WWF/SWS joint shows in 1991.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- A very solid crossover show that came off better than I was expecting. Savage/Tenryu and Hogan/Hansen in particular made this a worthwhile endeavor. We definitely need a show like this today, and with WWE opening up under the new regime it could happen.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B