WAR Wrestle And Romance – Osaka Dream II 05/24/93

Wrestle And Romance

Osaka, Japan
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
Attendance: 6,300

Previously In WAR….

NJPW ran the Fukuoka Dome two weeks prior to this show and *only* drew 55,000 fans when they were hoping to break the all-time record in a venue larger than the Tokyo Dome. The show was most notable for WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan defeating The Great Muta and then doing an interview where he called the WWF title a toy.

Following up such a giant show is probably why we don’t get Tenryu vs. Hashimoto tonight as even though it’s what we all want, you can’t have a big-arse show followed by another big-arse show so soon (unless you’re AEW, I guess).

UWA World Middleweight Title Match

Ultimo Dragon vs. El Samurai

Dragon lost his UWA middleweight title to El Samurai on 5/20 and he’s clearly still upset about it as he declines the rocking horse entrance and instead chooses to fight his way through the crowd.

Samurai gloatingly holds the title belt in Dragon’s direction, leading to Ultimo trying some fast-paced kicks and lucha mat holds only to end up trapped in Samurai’s STF. Samurai is being more of a dick than usual, leading to a big pop as Ultimo sends him outside and lands the ol’ Tease Dive and a big sexy dance.

Dragon wraps Samurai in a cocoon of pain as Samurai makes some very believable agony noises. From sexy dancing to submission, Dragon was the Daniel Garcia of his day. Samurai comes back with a Boston Crab which is a shame as Dragon’s in-pain noises suck by comparison. Both men catch their breaths before Dragon Handspring Elbows Samurai to the outside before following with a Tope…which Samurai counters with a dropkick. Diving Headbutt inside the ring sets up Samurai’s Chickenwing Armlock, causing the crowd to yell OH SHIT HE’S GOING TO TAP. Dragon escapes to the outside so Samurai follows with a Tope of his own, which Dragon responds by side-stepping and suplexing Samurai on the concrete. Eeesh. Sexy Dragon sets up Samurai on the top rope only to dropkick him off to the outside to connect with THE OBSERVER AWARD FOR MOVE MOST LIKE THE ASAI MOONSAULT 1993. It takes just as much out of Dragon as it does Samurai though so by the time he ends up inside the ring, Samurai’s up and knocking him back out to land his own Tope Con Hilo!

Not content with that, Samurai smashes Sex Dragon with a powerbomb, which isn’t enough for the count out victory as he’s up and rolling up Samurai for two in no time. Crowd are pounding the floor now. Samurai counters a backdrop by going under the legs and turning into a Sunset Flip which I have not seen enough of. It only gets two but the crowd loved that as much as I did. Bridging German can’t end Dragon and hey that’s his finisher! Samurai’s a jerk. Dragon attempts to escape another German but Samurai sees it coming and sits down for another two-count. Samurai is eager to put this guy away as he keeps on going for pins which are countered into pinfalls of Dragon’s own and the crowd are UP FOR THIS. Samurai lands a Victory Roll for two, Dragon rolls back for two, In-Ring Asai Moonsault gets two, Bridging German Suplex gets THREE at 20:42 to regain the title!

Bloody lovely stuff here with both men wrestling far more aggressively than usual as well as getting all their usual holds and dives in a way that felt natural (well, as natural as diving to the outside can be). Samurai had only won the belt three days earlier which as of 2023 still makes him the shortest-lived champion in the history of the title. Well done Japanese Mexican Shane Douglas.

Koki Kitahara & Super Strong Machine vs. Anti-Players Association (Akitoshi Saito & Kuniaki Kobayashi)

In the feud that Meltzer is convinced is running out of steam, everyone brawls on the outside as the crowd goes wild. This is Kuniaki Kobayashi’s first televised WAR match, meanwhile karate Akitoshi Saito has been beating up Orihara for months (twice on Sundays). Saito throws his tree trunk leg kicks at Kitahara, leading to Machine to tag in and do what he does best. Which is slow the action down and get beat up. Kitahara tees off against Kobayashi and gets a surprising amount of offence on the legend. The WAR lads isolate him and make him bleed while Saito plays face and tries to save him. Weird dynamic for a WAR show but plenty of NJPW fans are attending these events anyway so I guess it makes sense. Machine joining WAR because NJPW had no use for him means his matches are usually plodders. The WAR Lads Sandwich Lariat Saito to get the mixed reaction victory at 13:31 and ohhhh I get it now, the NJPW guys aren’t going to take any pin-falls for guys like Kitahara but they will lose to Machine, which is good news for the win/loss column but bad news for the match quality.

Masashi Aoyagi vs. Masao Orihara

Rematch of their mega-hot match from last year! And we’re cruelly JIP to Aoyagi playing keepie-uppie with his young opponent until Orihara manages to lock in a Single Crab. Aoyagi responds by simply punching him in the face. He’s so cool. Orihara kind of lands a belly-to-back inverted mat slam before moonsaulting into a Aoyagi kick to the gut. Orihara declines to sell that cool moment and starts throwing off German Suplexes as the crowd sounds reluctant to cheer for him. Aoyagi misses a spinning wheel kick and wasn’t supposed to, before landing a Kneeling Powerbomb for two. Crowd are non-reluctant now. Aoyagi throws a Fire Sale of kicks Orihara’s way with the crowd enjoying the action but still not wanting to get behind him, so Aoyagi pulls him up from a certain three count to kick him again and then…pin him at 13:13. Oh.

This was alright but didn’t add anything to Orihara’s position on the card and unlike their previous blinder, no-one cared about the young bald boy and so were content to cheer him getting kicked to death.

Elsewhere, Super Vader made his UWFi debut at the Fight Of Champions II the week before this in front of 16,500 fans in a sign of things to come. “Super Vader” because NJPW owned the “Big Van Vader” name and they don’t want anything to do with UWFi.

…yet.

John Tenta & King Haku vs. Dino Ventura & Yoshiro Ito

This was Dino’s last match, meanwhile in a Circle Of Life moment this is one of Ito’s first matches. We’re JIP to Earthquake throwing a dropkick at Ito followed by both men being bastards to the poor dude in the corner and turning his chest into buried treasure. Ito continues to get slaughtered as Tenta and Haku are trying to outdo one another. After Ito get slammed onto the commentary table, Dino finally attempts to join the action but takes one elbow and leaves the ring, leaving Ito to take even more offence. Yeah thanks mate. Haku lands a wonderful jumping sit-out Powerbomb to end this massacre at 13:30.

Nothing much here unless you like seeing Haku treat his opponents like they’re the police.

Shiro Koshinaka vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki

Big boos for Fuyuki, who once again only gets respect when he’s not wrestling NJPW lads. Koshinaka keeps getting sent outside the ring until Koshinaka does the same and Fuyuki takes a casual stroll outside. He needs it, the man is getting fatter every month. Both men trade headbutts before Fuyuki starts slapping his veteran opponent as he’s embraced being booed, deciding to leisurely smack his opponent down before landing a crossbody off the top to the outside! John Wick couldn’t get me to take that move from Fuyuki. Superplex sets up the Yelling Lariat for two. Another runs right into Koshinaka’s Butt-Butt and a high angle Powerbomb also gets two. Koshinaka blocks the Yelling Lariat by putting his arms up, so Fuyuki pauses and simply does it again. Ha! Stretch Plumb gets the crowd behind Koshinaka who escapes and gets a roll-up to end it anti-climatically at 9:19. Eh, not bad but not great either. Weird how Fuyuki looked better than usual by doing less.

Ashura Hara vs. Kengo Kimura

At least there’s tension here with both men being old so both have a chance of not-losing. We’re JIP to Kengo chopping Hara and they sound like whips. I’ve heard some loud chops before but Jesus Priced. Hara gets major heat from the crowd by bravely shrugging them off. A weak chair shot puts Hara down on the outside but back in he continues to mock Kengo’s shots by pretending they don’t exist. Kengo throws kicks and suplexes at lariats at Hara but he continues to give dumb looks until Kengo tries a crazy flying kick on the outside and ends up wrapping himself against the post. Hara works over Kengo’s leg until Kengo goes OH NO YOU DON’T and lands a flying kick to Hara, but he’s too hurt to capitalise so Hara stays on offence. That was nice. Kengo tries to resist a kneebreaker but Hara isn’t in the mood and forces him up and locks in a Single Crab. That doesn’t work so Hara repeats it and Kengo taps at 16:43! Huh. Kengo was game but Hara’s body language made you think he’d just woken up.

The Great Kabuki vs. Great Muta

Their first ever singles match but Kabuki is crap and Muta is still recovering from a knee injury and Kabuki is crap. Crowd doesn’t care and goes mental as both men spray mist during the introductions. Both men tease locking up as the crowd pops at the mere idea of these two touching one another. Kabuki gets a single throat thrust and crowd explodes on impact like he kicked a land mine. Muta drags Kabuki outside to smash an entire table over his head and crowd pops like it’s Austin’s January ’99 return. They continue to shit bricks while Kabuki forces blood out of his forehead like a Super Soaker XXP-275.

Kudos to the production for catching those shots. Muta works over Kabuki with basic kicks and punches before bulldogging The Great One on the outside. Muta connects with his quick elbow drop before Kabuki counters with a savate kick and the crowd starts chanting for him. Kabuki connects with a lariat as the crowd doesn’t quite care. Yeah, they’re not here for proper wrestling, JUST BLEED. Kabuki looks at his blood and decides to tear at Muta’s face paint which is the exact moment this photo is taken:

Muta is wearing Kabuki’s blood like a bad sweater and casually lands the handspring elbow in the corner, but Kabuki evades the moonsault with Muta landing on his feet which makes him throw more chairs into the ring. Kabuki grabs one but it was a set up as Muta mists him while his arms are full of chair. Muta naturally chair shots the ref for no reason and to give this match a way out at 11:10 which makes the crowd boo, then cheer as Muta poses.

This was the WAR equivalent of Hogan vs. Rock from Wrestlemania X8: They did barely anything but the crowd were enamoured by both men’s existence that you’d think it was the greatest match of all times. A wonderful display of making a lot with a little.

Post-match Kabuki wipes his own blood and drinks it. Lovely.

Shinya Hashimoto & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa

Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami teamed up to defeat Riki Choshu & Genichiro Tenryu in the main event of that giant Fukuoka Dome show a few weeks ago. Choshu isn’t here tonight as he had a big ol’ party the day before this to celebrate 20 years in the business and was probably sleeping off a hangover after lariating tequila all night, so Tenryu is fine with getting some revenge on Tatsumi instead.

Last time Hashimoto took on Tenryu in a tag match, Hashimoto won. Tenryu is aware and wants to start off with him. And both agree so we get the DRAMATIC STARE as the crowd goes wild with duelling chants. Tenryu treats Hashimoto’s kicks like death and avoids them wildly. Hash locks Tenryu in the ropes and chops which causes Tenryu to get mad and avoid a Hashimoto spinning kick (kinda). Tenryu takes some shots while holding Hash in the corner, leading to Ishikawa tagging in and no-one wants to see that so he gets booed. Hashimoto doesn’t even want to make eye contact with his new opponent, staring down Tenryu before tagging in Fujinami. Hash is so cool and the crowd knows it. Fuj measures out his opponent but everyone really wants to see Hash so he responds by tagging in and kicking his gammon opponent like he’s on fire with Tenryu tagging in to save his fat son.

For like ten seconds, before tagging him back in to big boos. Hash blocks Ishikawa’s shots by crossing his arms and pledging his allegiance to CM Punk like Wheeler, before tagging in Fujinami who doesn’t seem happy with being overlooked and slaps the shit out of Tenryu in response. Tenryu has this look on this face like “oh we’re doing this?” and he lariats Fuj before tagging in Ishikawa again. He of course gets the fuck kicked out of him but this time Hashimoto prevents him from tagging out. Tenryu responds by throwing a knee to a charging Hashimoto which the crowd loves. Tenryu keeps on insisting on tagging in Ishikawa which gets less reaction every time. This crowd is absolutely ready for the singles match. They’re gagging for it. Hash cuts of Tenryu with a DDT which brings in The Fuj to apply the Octopus Stretch. Ishikawa tries to save Tenryu with an Axe Handle off the top but only hits Tenryu and crowd are DONE with Ishikawa now. Poor Gammon, playing the role of unlikable sidekick. He’s like the first woman James Bond has his way with that inevitably ends up dead ten minutes later.

The WAR Gods work over Fuj as the crowd saves their energy for Hashimoto. Fuj dragon screw leg sweeps Tenryu and finally tags THE MAN in to DDT both of the WAR lads, with Tenryu saving Ishikawa with a casual soccer kick to the face, causing Hashimoto to roundhouse Tenryu into oblivion. Tenryu’s getting mad now so both WAR Lads land lariats and Ishikawa locks in a Scorpion Deathlock with Hashimoto getting mad and trying to interfere. Tenryu sends him outside with a lariat and as they’re brawling, Ishikawa escapes a Dragon Sleeper by Ace Steele-ing out of it, which only angers Fujinami into applying it again despite the bite marks to get the win at 17:15.

If this was WWE then this would be the tag match on the Smackdown before the PPV, working as an amuse-bouche for the main attraction. Still, hot as hell crowd reactions and Ishikawa getting booed for existing made this is a worthy (if easily skippable) main event.

Hashimoto is 2-0 against Tenryu in tag matches and so he demands a singles match, with Tenryu answering the challenge with a chop and all the seconds jump in the ring to prevent all hell from breaking loose. But never mind that shit, it’s finally on at the next show: Tenryu vs. Hashimoto!

Observer says:

Meltzer’s Feud of the year (so far): We’ve got two distinct deals here when you talk about feuds that have had a box office impact and feuds that have been strong in the ring. Of the successful megagates this year, the only one really that has drawn based on a singular feud was the TripleMania and Konnan vs. Cien Caras. New Japan’s success this year has been largely built on the back of the New Japan vs. War feud, which for box office reasons and work, I’d pick first.

Overall: Like most SWS shows, the Tenryu and Ultimo Dragon matches were essential and everything else was decidedly un-essential. This was a filler card to get us to what we all want to see which is happening next week so feel free to skip to the main course, or watch some OK matches and Kabuki bleeding a lot. Your choice.

I’ve been Maffew and OH NEXT WEEK IT’S HAPPENING IT’S HAPPENING