Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Satoru Asako
A young Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Decked out in simple red trunks and white boots typical for rookies at this time. Satoru Asako is his senior, being six years in at this point, so he dictated the pace early on. Kanemaru had some hope spots, including some decent arm work early in the match, but felt the wrath of Asako who crushed him. For two young wrestlers, this was decent. Kanemaru was keen on shining, doing some high flying moves while Asako worked as a bruiser type. The crowd would clap occasionally in appreciation. Asako had some cute cut offs like running the ropes while Kanemaru was attempting a high risk move and then he did a lovely leg sweep before the finish which was a great michinoku driver by Asako. A young boy match in all its form but Kanemaru had an energy to him. Asako was a little shaky but proved his worth with minor moments. **1/2
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Maunakea Mossman
Daisuke Ikeda coming out to Beastie Boys was amusing compared to the rest of the music which was very traditional. Mossman was game for Ikeda’s style, attempting leg kicks before Ikeda just decked him to the floor. Mossman sold it like he was rocked and Ikeda sicked on that, attempting to work for the Fujiwara armbar. Mossman was a little clunky although he had some decent kicks. He approached it traditionally like a UWF style bout whereas Ikeda is more rough and heavy with his style. He’s all technique but will just ravage someone with a clubbing blow which made him interesting to watch by comparison. The match’s momentum changed greatly for Ikeda following a stiff lariat. Ikeda took over and did a wild moonsault. Ikeda almost made Mossman tap with a knee bar out of a leg sweep but Mossman got the rope break. The match’s pace got quicker as they headed to the finish. They were able to get some noise out of the crowd with a cobra twist and a great false finish after a backdrop by Ikeda. Then they escalated it some more with Mossman pulling out a backdrop off the second rope. Ikeda kicking out of that got a big reaction too. Mossman finally got the win after a tricked out Ace Crusher. A good match. A little disjointed but it worked overall and was exciting at times. ***
Haruka Eigen, Masanobu Fuchi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Mitsuo Momota & Rusher Kimura
Ashamedly, I don’t believe that I’ve seen too many of these comedy matches despite it being a crowd favourite. Plus Jumbo Tsuruta is back for one of his one-off matches, in his penultimate match ever. Mitsuo Momota and Haruka Eigen start the match, wonderfully playing to the crowd and moving around with great speed considering their age. Kimura comes in and does some great old man comedy. Fuchi can barely contain his laughter as he attempts to Giant Swing Kimura. Eigen holds his nerve enough to swing Kimura around nine times. Jumbo comes in and despite looking frail, shows off the skill he still has, brutalising Kikuchi with a jumping knee and some chops. Even in the smaller transition moments, he is fluid as he always as. Haruka Eigen kills me with everything he does. So funny. Kimura and Kikuchi’s bits are funny too, although they are a little repetitive. The finish comes to a bit of an unclimatic end with Kikuchi being rolled up. Which hurts but the match was still enjoyable. ***
Shigeo Okumura & Tamon Honda vs. The Headhunters (Headhunter A & Headhunter B)
Someone in the All Japan office was impressed by the Headhunters enough to give them a shot on the Dome show, which is credit enough. Clearly the office thought that this show needed some juice and The Headhunters provided that in spades. This was basically an extended squash. Some okay moments, but a little boring for me. Skip. **1/2
Gedo & Jado vs. Johnny Smith & Wolf Hawkfield
A little uneven and sloppy at points, mostly due to Hawkfield, but it was fine overall because of certain isolated moments, such as the strong opening exchange and Smith pulling out some cool moves later in the match. Another skippable match. **1/2
Akira Taue, Masao Inoue & Takao Omori vs. ZEN (Hideki Hosaka, Tetsuhiro Kuroda & The Gladiator)
It’s a shame Akira Taue is relegated to this match, but the crowd treats him like the star he is. Him and The Gladiator, aka Mike Awesome, locking up is a big moment to kick off the match. The Gladiator aims to shine, almost immediately hitting a wild no hands plancha, knocking himself and Taue outside of the ringside area. Omori and Kuroda slap and chop each other up when they collide, but that’s quickly brushed aside for Hosaka and Inoue. Omori shines a bit but the match comes alive when Taue and Gladiator are in the ring together. The show would’ve been better off with a singles match between the two. Kuroda and Hosaka are fine when called upon. Kuroda more so. And this did get better as it went along. Not good as it can be but decent enough. **3/4
Masahito Kakihara & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Triangle Of Power (Gary Albright & Steve Williams)
Damn this looks tasty. Takayama and Williams go at it early on with stiff strikes. Kakihara tries his best to stand up to doc with kicks but he is overwhelmed by his power. Kakihara, despite his size difference, looked good here. He was portrayed as smart and poised in how he would isolate a weakness of the much larger wrestlers and use his submission skills to get an even footing. Out of him and Takayama, I’d say he looked the better of the two against Albright and Williams. Takayama did look more confident in his own skin though. The match was really good though. One thing that might hold it back was its slow pace that never picked up, but it was largely methodical and built around Kakihara and Takayama bringing TOP down rather than TOP dominating which was interesting. I wonder whether it would’ve been better if Kakihara or Takayama got the pin instead of losing. Good match though. Improvement on the previous matches. ***1/4
Giant Baba, Hayabusa & Kentaro Shiga vs. Giant Kimala, Jinsei Shinzaki & Jun Izumida
This is the Giant Baba show. Aimed to give him a showcase for the fans in the long awaited single promoted Tokyo Dome event. And you may think that Hayabusa and Shinzaki can give the match some juice but it didn’t prevent the terrible pacing that this had. The previous match had a slow pace but had something to keep you hooked. This had very little quality. The high spots of the match were Shinzaki attempting his rope walks. This crawls to 20 minutes with a few bright spots but very little else. Hayabusa gets the win at the end. *
Hiroshi Hase vs. Jun Akiyama
This had the potential to be special with its excellent technical wrestling, but it did sort of lost itself with oddly placed suplex exchanges and weak long term selling. But as far as a New Japan style match, I think this went over great and showcased the tremendous technique both have in their locker. They began with some wonderfully technical wrestling. First, there was a scramble for the leg, before they went into some wonderful chain wrestling. Hase targeted the ankle early on, first getting a heel hook before picking the ankle after he took Akiyama’s back. One thing I like is that when they were chaining, they didn’t blow through it. Each part of it felt controlled and deliberate. Even when Akiyama’s leg was in trouble, he didn’t panic and found an escape. It was a really good effort by the two to develop the holds. And each old felt natural in terms of progression, including when they began to do more high spots. Although I did think the exploder exchange was a little silly and disjointed to the rest of the match. Akiyama from there began to get into the match more, picking Hase’s leg apart which made the exploder exchange a little more out of place, even if the dome exploded. I think the closing stretch was pretty great. Hase’s selling was weak but he nailed the rest perfectly. Akiyama looked great but Hase looked like the tremendous wrestler he had proved to be for the past 10 years. ****
Stan Hansen & Vader vs. GET (Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi)
It’s good to see Vader get treated with the respect he deserved both by the crowd and the company, who immediately established him as a threat against Kenta Kobashi. He clubbed Kobashi to the floor and set Kobashi on the defence immediately. Meanwhile, Hansen, who has a stumble, looks even more threatening if that was possible with the brutality of the strikes he brings. No one does a more stiff slap to the back than him. Ace came in and tried to work on Hansen’s arm, but the mammoth team of Hansen and Vader are too much for something like that. They dominated this largely. And the pace was a little slow, naturally, but they would escalate things nicely to keep the momentum going, such as Hansen using a table on Ace and Vader crushing him with a German suplex afterwards. And Ace to his credit is a good FIP, adding drama to the mix. And Kobashi rocks his hot tag with his charisma and the fire he brings. The finish was a bit rushed, but was still well done. Kobashi getting a roll up on Hansen could’ve been considered a poor choice, but I think it fit with the theme that Hansen and Vader are an unstoppable force when together. It’s a very good match though. I think they all brought something to the table. ***3/4
Triple Crown Title Match: Mitsuharu Misawa (c) vs. Toshiaki Kawada
There was a point in my fandom where I didn’t love this and it’s easy to see why in rewatching it. It’s largely Kawada beating Misawa up and when it can get rather repetitive as Misawa can’t go full blast due to injuries. However, I think in revisiting this, it works in the match’s favour. If anything, it enhances Kawada’s performance in all facets. It truly comes across as Kawada’s moment. He outclasses Misawa in every stretch of the match, neutralising the arm and the leg, being a step ahead of him on every momentum. His offence is just that more brutal, that more dynamic. Kawada felt like the true winner of the match. And it’s all performance of course, but rarely does a winner feel so truly earned through the moves alone. Treat it as a real fight, Kawada would win on points. It’s a weird thing that wrestling doesn’t always get and it rarely hurts the performances, and in this case, it helped greatly because it was otherwise one sided. There is a catharsis to this win as well, considering its years too late, but if there is any place to do it, it’s the Tokyo Dome. Although the moment won’t last forever. ****1/4
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