Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto vs Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa - WAR 02/04/1993
This starts off with a lot of intense staring and cheap spots being thrown. Which is great because that’s what these men are great at. And then it just builds and builds into a super heated fight. The Sendai crowd are always the hottest from this period I’ve found and this is no exception. The WAR crew are the favourites but they are just as willing to cheer Choshu and Hashimoto and boo Tenryu if they deserve it. Tenryu kicking Choshu in the eye while he’s on the ground is a big example of that. The match teases a big Hashimoto vs Tenryu match that comes later in the year. Every exchange is big and exciting but small enough to tease the crowd and get them wanting more but the Tenryu v Choshu exchanges are well lit as well. Choshu sells for most of the match, bleeding all over the place and the WAR wrestlers take him to town. Ishikawa was a dog just running around doing bits and pieces while Tenryu took the big moments. Ishikawa predictably submitted to the Dragon Sleeper but he brought his worth. The post match scrap looked amazing. ****
Tatsumi Fujinami & Shinya Hashimoto vs Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa - 24/05/1993
I thought this was fine. Tenryu and Ishikawa work Fujinami’s arm with kicks and submission holds just fine and his selling was really good. There were some good clashes between Tenryu and Hashimoto as well. But the match just never hit that high gear that other WAR vs NJ matches do. ***
Hiroshi Hase vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki - WAR 1st Anniversary Of Revolution 17/06/1993
A pretty cool match. Fuyuki isn’t great but Hase is and they work really well together. I’m not sure the booking was really beneficial to WAR since Fuyuki acts as the heel and bully of the match with Hase selling, gathering sympathy and eventually scoring the win but it was still a compelling match. ***1/2
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Genichiro Tenryu - WAR 1st Anniversary Of Revolution 17/06/1993
I didn’t know this was Budokan Hall. It’s a big crowd obviously but you couldn’t tell the building unlike when All Japan or New Japan run it. I think this was about on par with the August ‘93 match, maybe a tad lower. Teneryu hurts his knee halfway through and has to sell for the rest of the match. It’s a good way to make him the definitive face when Hashimoto was super popular during his entrance. Hashimoto’s attack on the leg was great as well. Hash really knows how to effectively target a limb.But other than that, these two beat the heck out of each other with potato shots. Hashimoto dons a bloody red nose that kinda becomes his thing later in his career. The finish was sloppy, even by Tenryu standards with some wiffted kicks before the Folding Powerbomb. Not a great finish to a great match. ****1/4
Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs Shinya Hashimoto & Masahiro Chono - WAR WAR-ISM 1993 ~Dragon Spirit~ - Day 1 01/10/1993
This was a fine tag team match. Not the best WAR vs NJ match although I love it when Chono and Hashimoto team together. Tenryu was fine. Hara was the more active of the two and that’s not the most exciting thing. ***
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Genichiro Tenryu - WAR Revolution 15/12/1993
Honestly rather listless. Tenryu gives up most of the offence in favour of Fujinami who doesn’t really make the best of it, if I’m honest. The one thing I’ll praise the match for is leading to the Dome match well. Tenryu is set to face Inoki and who better to precede Inoki than his 1b to Inoki’s 1a as well as his protege? **1/2
Comments
Post a Comment