NJPW Fighting Spirit 1993 (WAR v New Japan Matches) & Marufuji defends the AJPW Jr Title against Hayashi

NJPW Fighting Spirit 1993

NJPW (Akira Nogami, Keiji Muto & Shinya Hashimoto) vs. W.A.R (Ashura Hara, Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa) - NJPW Fighting Spirit 1993 - Day 4 05/02/1993

This was an electric 13 minutes. I assume that this was the start of the Hashimoto v Tenryu feud. It looked like Muto was going to be the big headliner of his team, given he is champion (as Muta which technically is a different person) but Hashimoto calls out Tenryu to kick off the match and the rest is history. Tenryu is very hesitant in this match. After he gets pummeled by Hashimoto’s kicks to kick off the match, he starts to be cautious, tags out more often than he would. He is very keen to go when Nogami is in there, and he dishes out some heavy offence against him, while looking at Hash (which was awesome) but then it’s Muto or Hashimoto in the ring, in comes Hara or Ishikawa. This was played off brialintly when he got trapped ina  barrage of triple team moves that sent the crowd into a frenzy. The other two WAR guys were good and played their parts as the side pieces to Tenryu. Ishikawa got booed any time he was in the ring whereas the other two were cheered, mostly. Good to see his heat out of the Fujinami match is being carried over. Great match. ****1/4

NJPW (Hiroshi Hase, Osamu Kido, Riki Choshu, Takayuki Iizuka & Tatsumi Fujinami) vs. W.A.R (Ashura Hara, Genichiro Tenryu, Hiromichi Fuyuki, Koki Kitahara & Takashi Ishikawa) - NJPW Fighting Spirit 1993 - Day 12 16/02/1993

Big 30 minute chaotic match in Ryogoku. Choshu looked super strong in this, getting both falls and always staying one step ahead when he was in the ring. He directed traffic for his side as well. The Maestro of Team New Japan. I like how both falls took their time and told different stories. The first fall was about New Japan wrecking havoc with WAR playing catch up. The second fall was WAR on top, taking advantage of Iizuka and Fujinami, isolating them. Tenryu beating up Iizuka with cheap shots and had chops was killer. Iizuka has a history of taking incredible beatdowns so he knows how to make the best out of it and use it to his advantage. Hase was a boss as well. He threw some sick uranage’s to Ishikawa. Great, great match. ****1/4

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AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Naomichi Marufuji (c) vs. Kaz Hayashi - AJPW Excite Series 2009 - Day 1 06/02/2009

I thought this was pretty good. Most of the match was Marufuji doing his thing, well I might add, with Hayashi coming up with occasional counters and strikes, trying to keep Marufuji at bay. Marufuji was pretty entertaining while on top. He switched his offence from flashy aerial moves to strikes to submissions well. I thought he did a good job of building his offence up with Hayashi just avoiding his signature moves such as the corner kicks making them feel big when he executes them. Hayashi worked well from beneath in terms of selling and he was a good person that the fans could rally behind even against the popular Marufuji. A good finishing stretch closes out a pretty good Junior Heavyweight title match. ***3/4