Shinjiro Otani, Tokimitsu Ishizawa & Yuji Nagata vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara, Kazushi Sakuraba & Kenichi Yamamoto
A nice six man tag between the UWFi shooters and the NJ Wrestlers. There isn’t much overarching story but a battle of in the moment action. It’s just six wrestlers sent to open a stacked card and show off what they can do. I’d prefer this over some mediocre Heisei Ishingun tag, no offence. This heats up in spots, mostly when Otani enters the ring but this is mostly built around each other's technique and willing to push each other as far they were probably allowed to go. What is amusing is seeing Ishizawa, aka Kendo Kashin, best Sakuraba in the submission wrestling given how their MMA careers pan out. What is also funny is how in recent memory, only Shibata worked this style and here everyone works it. It just shows how the style has evolved as time goes. Nagata, who has been New Japan’s star midcarder during this feud, gets the win, tapping Kanehara out with a cross arm breaker. Good match. ***
Satoshi Kojima vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Kojima and Tenzan facing each other. A tale as old as 1996. Kojima makes his return from Germany and faces his career long friend and rival. And he almost looks as silly as Tenzan with his attire. The match begins right at the bell with Kojima rushing Tenzan, hitting him with Mongolian Chops, which is Tenzan’s signature move. He keeps up the momentum but Tenzan has his moments. More than anything, this was meant to get the new Kojima over to the crowd. I’m not sure if that worked here but it will in the long term. Tenzan makes a comeback, hitting his chops and a moonsault that Kojima kicks out of but after Tenzan almost died on a samoan drop, Tenzan defeats Kojima with a diving headbutt. Given Tenzan has made great strides in the prior year, I would’ve had him dominate more, definitely. Solid match though. Just lacking heat. ***
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Koji Kanemoto (c) vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
For a Junior Heavyweight title match 3rd on the card, this had a fairly elaborate entrance, where both came out at the same time on the entrance platform before going one at a time. I’ve always found that the Juniors don’t perform in the Tokyo Dome. They have been low on the card, like this, and not given much noise by the crowd. And it's kind of the same here. They work the mat, initially Kanemoto grinding on Liger with chinlocks before Liger takes over and makes it a bit more traditional. It’s not very interesting outside of moments here and there. The crowd, like I mentioned was common for the Junior matches in the Dome, gave little reaction outside of those bigger moments. The match did gradually build up towards more high impact moves though. Liger hit some sweet brainbusters and a great dive to the floor. Kanemoto is a favourite of mine but his performance is lacklustre and not indicative of his typical charismatic self. The work is hardly bad but things like the moonsault doesn’t get a pop whereas the kick out does. It leaves an underwhelming impression on the work. Liger wins this encounter and I’m left utterly cold by this. This is a banner year for the Juniors but I think this was a rough start. **1/2
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Masahiro Chono
This is a solid bout to put Chono in but I wish it was a bit more of a bigger match in terms of the show (it's below Fuyuki vs Anjo). But I can’t complain about this pairing. Before the match starts, Koshinaka attacks Chono during the ring announcements, which sums up the underlying tension between the two. The match worked in fast forward - some brief technical wrestling before the two started going to the finish with Hip Attacks, Kenka Kicks and STF attempts. There are some spots on the floor to break it up but they return to the ring and continue doing it, to silence. I love these two but this was just flat and boring. Jesus. Koshinaka gets the surprise win, likely to set him up for challenging Takada in February. **
Hiromichi Fuyuki vs. Yoji Anjo
WAR vs UWFi gets its showcase here. And the fans seemed into it from the start, surprising considering they were silent for two bigger stars. Fuyuki attacks Anjo and poses to everyone’s delight. This is far from a UWFi match. Anjo is the perfect UWFi wrestler to have this match though because he’s always been more of a performer than the rest. He throws the classic kicks and has a bit more submission knowledge than Fuyuki but the difference in tone isn’t that big. The match veers into comedy territory when Gedo interferes and tapes Anjo’s mouth shut. Anjo, with the tape still there, wrestles the match as normal, locking on a fujiwara armbar before the WAR guys interfere once more and Fuyuki whallops Anjo with a lariat to win. Fun in parts but I definitely see why UWFi failed to be seen as legit after this. **1/4
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Hiroshi Hase
Not Hase’s last match in New Japan, which comes at an untelevised event later in the year, but his big one before he takes up office. And in this last match of sorts, he faces his protege and partner. Solid grappling at the start with Sasaki showing his worth against Hase, who is the best in the company at just that. Hase was quite generous in fact but it was fun seeing Sasaki work like this when he’s a wrestler who will normally run his opponents over with a stiff blow. Hase eventually took over, damaging Sasaki’s knee and escalating the match with some of his terrific offence. Sasaki won in the end, which is the right thing but the shine is given to Hase after the match. Awesome match but I will admit that it was a little too long and minimalistic. ***1/2
Big Van Vader vs. Antonio Inoki
A classic match. One of the last great Inoki matches is against his old rival. Their past is a bit of a fable and based a little upon revolutionist history (I’m talking about Vader’s debut and the riot that ensued) but it was a big feud nonetheless. And this felt like a revisit to that, but with a more prime Vader than a prime Inoki. And it was presented like that. Vader was put over like a machine that battered Inoki at every turn. He clattered Inoki at the bell, knocked him down with almost every shot at the beginning and almost killed Inoki with a HUGE german suplex. The crowd gasped at the impact. Inoki sold it like he was on death's door, which he practically was. Inoki had limited moments on offence. He had a headscissors here, a knee drop there. He was facing a monster and took his moments. Inoki and Vader got cut open at one point and Inoki seemingly had him until he didn’t and Vader locked on a sleeper in the ring. Vader resumed his domination, hitting a big chokeslam for a big two count before attempting a powerbomb which was reversed. Inoki was hit with the Vader Bomb off the second rope but kicked out to a big pop. And then Inoki got a bigger pop for kicking out of the moonsault of all things. A spot too far for any other wrestler. The finish comes quickly afterwards where Inoki taps Vader out with an armbreaker. I didn’t like that. I wish it was something more grand and akin to the more famous Inoki comebacks but we can’t have it all. For what this was, this was pretty great. ****
Riki Choshu vs. Masahito Kakihara
Admittedly, Choshu showing the UWFi shooters no respect has been my favourite thing in this promotion for a while and this is another example of it. Kills one of their only prospects in minutes. Kakihara attacks with knees and kicks to start but Choshu gets nasty quickly, not selling a kick to the face, like a champ, and glaring at Kakihara, while he was on the ground. Unlike the match with Anjo where Choshu engaged with Anjo on the ground, Choshu preferred to dismiss Kakihara outright, pushing him to the corner and then holding Kakihara by his neck. He then causally teased the Scorpion Hold like it was nothing before letting go. Then slammed Kakihara twice like he’s a toy. Then he seemed ready to kill Kakihara with the lariat but thankfully Kakihara ducked. But Choshu came right in and slammed him against and hit the lariat right after. And submitting Kakihara with the scorpion. An easy night’s work for the booker man. Fun in a perverse sort of way but Kakihara didn’t do anything in return. He just accepted his fate by holding up his guard. **
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
Luckily for Yamazaki, he had returned to New Japan a while before this show so this wasn’t an interpromotional match and it was worked more evenly with Yamazaki getting a lot against the for IWGP Heavyweight champion. Yamazaki violently attacked Hashimoto’s arm, using holds and kicks to attack the region which put Hashimoto at a slight disadvantage. Hashimoto goes for the quick win but Yamazaki is quick to reverse the brainbuster attempt with a rear naked choke before he transitions into the armbar attempt. Hash gets rocked with a head kick after he escapes but he gets his own back with a VIOLENT chop and swifty puts Yamazaki away with a brainbuster. Awesome but short match. ***1/2
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Keiji Muto (c) vs Nobuhiko Takada
After all the burials for UWFi, they get the big one, the IWGP Heavyweight title. This win makes Takada the first ever triple crown winner, obviously not in that sense but the sense that he’s won the Heavyweight title, Jr Heavyweight title and tag titles. Something only Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi later achieved.
The match began well with Takada going in for kicks to the legs with Mutoh teasing the dragon screw kicks before Takada took Mutoh to the ground. Takada dominates looking for the arm, trying to trap it with his legs but Mutoh muscles Takada’s shoulders to the mat. Takada then goes for the double wrist lock but Mutoh smartly flattens himself on the canvas which leads to Takada shifting his hips to apply a head scissors to get the leverage. While this was a bit methodical, which may have led to the match’s reputation for being boring or phoned in, it’s smart submission wrestling. Mutoh starts firing back with headbuts and kicks before hitting the moonsault and applying a double wrist lock into a cross armbreaker. The match picks up another pace when Takada snags a heel hook in the middle of the ring. The fans go crazy as Mutoh desperately tries to get to the ropes. The damage is done and Takada focuses on the leg for the remainder of the match. Mutoh follows suit when he catches a kick attempt and hits a dragon screw and goes for a figure four, the move that Takada tapped to in October. There was a terrific repeat of the spot with Takada trying his hardest not to give Mutoh control of his leg but couldn’t. There was an awesome double submission spot that followed that with Takada’s heel hook being a counter to the figure four and vice versa. The match smartly uses submissions as its false finishes rather than nearfalls which suits Takada wonderfully. Takada floors Mutoh with two kicks to the jaw and submits Mutoh with a cross armbreaker to win the gold!!!! The quality at the latter parts of the match was there to be seen in the first half but the urgency was just lacking. If you get a better first half, you get a classic. But I’m comfortable praising the match for the entertaining main event it was. After the match Takada challenges Koshinaka and Hashimoto to set up his two title matches under this reign and shakes the hand of Inoki, who was at ringside. ***3/4
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