NJPW Skydiving J - 17/06/1996
One of the more underrated nights in Junior Heavyweight wrestling. Most talk about the Super J Cups, the J-Crown or focus more on the individual matches but this is big. The Juniors own Budokan Hall, packing 13k in. Not exactly All Japan selling out tour after tour but it’s still a great number considering the main event isn’t exactly the biggest.
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match: Lance Storm & Yuji Yasuraoka (c) vs. El Samurai & Norio Honaga
It’s not the most interesting start to the night but I’m unfamiliar with the WAR duo (Lance Storm, I am but not together with Yasuraoka) which gives the match some intrigue. I thought the match kept a good pace and had some solid wrestling. Yasuraoka looked good with his kicks and dives. El Samurai wrestled a more interesting bout, diving himself and moving with much more intensity than usual. Honaga didn’t really shine but I did like his more basic style in comparison. Lance Storm was mainly on the sidelines, in the hot tag role, while Yasuraoka was stuck as the FIP. It was an effective match story, especially as this was the only tag team match of the night. And the eventual tag lead to the quick win with Storm getting the advantage for his team before winning with a pin reversal on Honaga. Solid match. A good way to open the show. ***1/4
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Masayoshi Motegi (c) vs. Shiryu
This is the third time that I’ve seen Motegi wrestle. And the first two times, I didn’t see much in him, bursts of qualities here and there. He’s a guy that the fringe Japanese wrestling fans seem to like but it’s not come across well in these bigger occasions for me. He made some strides in the match though. A lengthy run time with a title on the line helps matters. His opponent is Shiryu who is Kaz Hayashi under a mask and he works way more dominant than I expected. I guess he’s a heel in Michinoku Pro. Motegi has to work from beneath and he does a decent job but when he gets a chance on offence, he does heelish things so I’m a little confused. But he’s got some sweet moves - a cool dropkick, a great dive and he clearly likes to work a little rough and heavy. One obvious flub really came from Shiryu (suplex on the apron) not being ready but I can see Motegi getting the flack for it. The match never gets to a great level but like the opener, it’s always interesting in some form. ***
WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Title Match: Gran Hamada (c) vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa
This was a cool match. Hamada is getting up there in age but he’s still quite the master while Takaiwa is the younger one that can do a lot of the heavy sprinting, while adding in his famous intensity to the mix. The match started out nicely with some good technical wrestling that slowly but surely get less and less grapple centric and more high risk and heavy hitting. The transition was really well done and almost unnoticeable until I was right in the middle of the closing stretch. Takaiwa looked great while Hamada wins and gets the rub off the crowd. ***1/2
UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Title Match (vacant): Shinjiro Otani vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
It’s amusing to read the Observer and see Dave say Sakuraba wasn’t in Otani’s league considering he will be a massive star in Japan in a few years. And then you consider how good he was in this match. He adapted outside of the UWFI rules really well. His submissions remained the same but his selling, use of more high flying moves were him adapting to the environment with Otani also adapting to Sakuraba. It was a great mix of styles between two technical masters. This was surprisingly the shortest match of the night but it was wonderful nonetheless. ***3/4
CMLL World Welterweight Title Match: Super Delfin (c) vs. TAKA Michinoku
This was pretty awesome. Not really a fully worked match, and more of a showcase, but both are kick ass wrestlers and have loads of great moves to show off. With some character work by Delfin included. A little too long but I thought the closing stretch was fun. So it’s a positive. ***1/4
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Ultimo Dragon (c) vs. Gran Naniwa
There was a lot to like about this match. Naniwa is cool. He’s really young but solid with a fun gimmick. Ultimo is awesome depending on the situation. The work had its ups and downs. Some of it was entertaining and fun, some of it was really dull and boring. It was inconsistent in that way. And it made 13 minutes feel like23. Shame. **3/4
MPW British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Dick Togo (c) vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
On paper, this is the most exciting match on the card with indie legend Dick Togo against Liger at the peak of his powers. Dick Togo heels on the crowd, keeping with his M-Pro gimmick but Liger isn’t in the mood to play nice guy and basically delivers a hellacious beat down, typing Togo up like a knot, stiffing him with strikes, hitting snug power offence. It’s not a pretty sight to anyone who is averse to this type of offence. Togo can take it like a champ though. I think I would’ve quit wrestling after those powerbombs on the outside. Dick Togo had some offence, which included a low blow and a solid hope spot where he hit two diving sentons before missing a third. A few more chances occur but the winner is Liger ultimately. Awesome match. A more even bout could’ve been better but then we wouldn’t have had this wonderful Liger performance. ****
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Great Sasuke (c) vs. Black Tiger
A disappointing main event. Apparently, someone had the flu which might explain something but the match had more than enough offence to have a compelling match but there was something lacking. A hook. Something to sink my teeth into. Liger and Togo had all these interesting components. This lacked a lot. Shame considering Black Tiger had a great month. **1/2
In the post match celebrations, all the champions came out to the ring and organised a tournament to depend on one catch all champions aka a J Crown.
NJPW Summer Struggle 1996
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Shinya Hashimoto (c) vs. Ric Flair - NJPW Summer Struggle 1996 - Day 19: WCW World In Sapporo - 17/07/1996
Ric Flair is a bit of a product of an older style, especially in Japan but there is some appeal to seeing him wrestle against a dynamic Hashimoto. The fans do appreciate what Flair represents too. The match was fun but in a house show kind of way. Flair did his tricks to please the crowd. Hashimoto was game to let it all play out too, selling for the eye pokes and the likes. Hashimoto was in no real danger but this title defence provided a lot of things that you wouldn’t see against others, so it’s worth seeking out. ***
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