Viewing Note
Viewing Notes: Wrestling War 96 in Tokyo Dome (4 January 1996 – Tokyo Dome)
Jushin Liger vs Koji Kanemoto
You know, I don’t mind spot fests as an entertaining form of wrestling. I’ve enjoyed lots of lucharesu action and RVD matches… but this was pretty much unexpected right here… I should make mention that this is the 2 hour TV version of the show, so we’re joined in progress and as such the actual build of the match is lost… but what I did see was the kind of spotty action and no selling you’d expect from Ric Blade v Red on the US Indy circuit, rather than from two of the greatest Juniors of their generation. The disregard for the art of selling is appalling. I don’t like to do any play by play, but it’s warranted in this match just to show my point. Liger hits FOUR Fisherman Busters, a regular Brainbuster and a top rope plancha only for Koji to spring back on offence scant seconds later showing no signs of injury. Kanemoto’s offence of a spinning heel kick and a twisting moonsault senton is no sold as Liger then pops up from an attempted moonsault to go back on offence. Liger hits a top rope Brainbuster for a two count… and when he goes upstairs again, Kanemoto simply gets up as if nothing has happened and catches Liger on the top rope. Kanemoto hit Liger with a top rope rana, a Liger bomb, a moonsault, a released Tiger Suplex and another moonsault… for 2. Liger pops back on offence again after a missed twisting senton and tries to one-up Kanemoto by hitting three consecutive Liger Bombs before finally wrapping it up with a Stardust Press for the three count to win the title. That was just stupid spots for the sake of stupid spots. Both men hit multiple consecutive finishers on each other which were no sold mere seconds later. Now, I’m all for crowd popping near falls… and I don’t mind people kicking out of each other’s usual finishers on big title matches such as this… but there was absolutely no thought given to psychology or selling (at least from what I saw). If this match was on a US Indy show, people would point out how it demonstrates the very worst of spot-fest wrestling, and I can scarcely believe that New Japan’s biggest show of the year produced this match. If anything, this is the match that proves a little selling goes a long way. If these two had at least made some kind of token selling moment rather than just go straight to highspot offence without stopping, I’m sure I would’ve loved this match. Instead, I just sat open mouthed at the sheer disregard for one of the basics of wrestling.
Hiroshi Hase vs Kensuke Sasaki
This was also joined in progress. Hase is ‘tache-less, for a change. That might be the most interesting thing about this match, in retrospect. Hase hit a few moves, Sasaki hit a few moves… then Sasaki finished it with a Northern Lights Bomb. This was Hase’s last match in New Japan as a regular, but it wasn’t much of a way to bow out, with his only big moment coming with the usual Giant Swing spot. Sasaki was very mediocre here, during the mid point between his great phase in the early 90s and his great phase at the end of the 90s. Nothing to see here.
Antonio Inoki vs Vader
Hmmm. I was looking forward to this match quite a bit as it’s often been pimped as a really great match by various sources. I always had my doubts on whether Inoki in his mid 50s could really produce a match of similar quality to Vader’s matches with Sting, Flair and Michaels. Vader does work quite stiff with Inoki though, most notably on a sick release German Suplex when Inoki looks to have landed very hard indeed. I found it difficult to really concentrate on Vader though, since he put on the top ‘vest’ segment of his outfit on backwards on that night, meaning that the ‘Vader Time’ logo was on his back throughout. Anyway… back to the match. Vader proves to be the stronger of the two (shocking, I know) by dealing out a beating to the hapless Inoki. Inoki though, has to take it to the outside and even uses a chair on Vader which appears to open Vader’s eye. Nice, if unplanned, touch. Back in the ring, Vader counters Inoki’s brief flurry of offence and sets him up for first a V-Bomb (bouncing splash off the middle turnbuckle) and then a moonsault. The crowd are eating the action up with a spoon as Inoki kicks out and locks Vader in a cross arm-breaker for the climactic tap out. Great match. Well, great match for Inoki anyway, since I don’t believe this encounter came anywhere near the level of Vader’s aforementioned battles in the USA. Of those matches, the best comparison to make would be Vader v Flair from Starrcade ‘93 which worked on exactly the same principle… monster heel beats up old beloved legend until said legend uses his smarts to beat the monster. It might be the fact that I’m a big Flair fan, but I enjoyed that one a bit more than this one, although the Inoki match had a much better ending sequence. I thoroughly suggest checking this match out though… it’s certainly a great showcase for Inoki’s ‘fighting spirit’ style and without doubt the best match I’ve ever seen him in. If you’re looking for Vader at his best, well, there’s a dash of it in this match… but you’d be better off looking for any Vader v Sting matches.
Random Clippage
The TV show then compiles a number of clips from the other matches on the card, namely Shinjiro Ohtani, Tokimitsu Ishizawa & Yuji Nagata vs Kenichi Yamamoto, Kazushi Sakuraba & Hiromitsu Kanehara, Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Satoshi Kojima, Masahiro Chono vs Shiro Koshinaka, Yoji Anjoh vs Hiromichi Fuyuki and Shinya Hashimoto vs Kazuo Yamazaki.
Riki Choshu vs Masahito Kakihara
This is New Japan v UWFi, with one of New Japan’s heavyweight legends taking on the UWFi young lion Kakihara. I hate Riki Choshu at the best of times, so when I see him I generally get the urge to exercise my FF button. For some reason I didn’t use the button this time, and had the distinct displeasure of watching Choshu squash Kakihara like a bug, while never so much changing his expression. Choshu reacted so little to his opponent and his surroundings I wondered if he’d been doped up to the eyeballs backstage. No matter. I hate Choshu anyway.
Keiji Mutoh vs Nobuhiko Takada (IWGP Title)
This was the rematch of a huge Dome sell out main event of October 1995 where New Japan’s Keiji Mutoh had beaten UWFi head man Nobuhiko Takada via submission in a Figure 4 Leglock. This match was for the IWGP Title, and sold out the Dome to the tune of 64,000… an incredible achievement a mere three months after they’d done it last time. This is very much a match of two halves… the first half is all shoot-style stuff, working for takedowns, working in the guard and all that… and the second is hot, hot, hot action with near submissions a plenty. The moment the match picks up is when Mutoh hits a moonsault out of nowhere and goes for a keylock on Takada’s arm. The guys work in the same Figure 4 spot that ended the match three months prior, but this time Takada can escape to the ropes, and one of the most interesting spots in the match is when Mutoh is able to counter a heel hold by Takada by basically applying another Figure 4 while lying on the canvas. Special mention should be given in this match to the crowd, who were literally rabid for the second half of the match, buying every submission attempt wholeheartedly as a potential match winning move and keeping the atmosphere red-hot. When Mutoh finally tapped out, the release of the tension is amazing… this was huge news… Takada (an outsider, no less) had the IWGP Title, and more importantly (from NJPW’s business point of view), there was another potential sell-out Tokyo Dome main event with Takada defending against Shinya Hashimoto. The booking worked. Takada headlined the Dome for the third time in seven months as he dumped the belt to Hashimoto in what is regarded to be another great match.
Being only the TV show version of this card, it’s quite difficult to know what to say about it since we only got two full matches and three JIP matches. Mutoh v Takada and Vader v Inoki are both great matches, and although both have their flaws, the NJ crowd are totally into them both, giving them the feel of a huge event. I would certainly recommend seeing them at least. Liger v Kanemoto was appallingly done from what I could see… but it’s entirely possible that the full version would show the match in a different light, so I’ll refrain from further comment. Of the rest of the card, there seemed to be practically nothing to get excited about. Still, it was promoted as a two match card… and that’s exactly what we got. Worth a look.