WAR Wrestle And Romance – Revolution Rumbling ’94 In Sumo Hall 03/02/94
By Maffew Gregg on 31 December 2023
Wrestle And Romance
Sumo Hall, Tokyo
Attendance: 11,000
WAR is trying to break away from it’s image as being a minor league NJPW by limiting it’s cooperation with other companies to just the big shows.
Tenryu is instead going to focus on Koji Kitao, Arashi and Super Strong Machine.
Jado & Gedo vs. Nobukazu Hirai & Masanobu Kurisu
Weird match-up here. Heavily clipped but Kurisu still gets to show off his Old School Top Rope Armdrag. Hirai gets to counter a top rope powerbomb into a Frankensteiner and has the crowd behind him until Jado & Gedo shrug it off and do it for real-real at 11:02. Looked OK.
Koki Kitahara vs. Kim Duk
Hey it’s Kim Duk, the star of The Golden Child!
Koki kicks Kim to lock in an armbar before Kim escapes and plods away before Koki gets a crucifix pin. 3 1/2 minutes shown, which is even less time than Duk spent on screen in that mid Eddie Murphy film.
Five 3-Minute Rounds
Hiromichi Fuyuki vs. Arashi
Oh no. I’d type up play-by-play but when you’re doing a match under rounds rules so one of the wrestlers can get a break and they still only end up showing highlights, you know it’s not worth it. Fuyuki sells like Hennig on the good stuff for Arashi the barely-trained lump but the ex-sumo is even worse than Kitao. No body language, no coordination, nothing. Fuyuki manages a dropkick to his gut and it’s impossible to tell if he’s selling or shrugging it off as he just kinda stands there like a NPC. Fuyuki locks in a sleeper but the final round expires without a winner as the crowd boos.
So then Fuyuki talks crap as Arashi walks away so we get ANOTHER round with Arashi landing a chokeslam the likes of which would not be seen until Undertaker vs. Hogan in 2002, with Fuyuki somehow coming back with a small package to euthanise this.
Hiromichi Fuyuki faced Arashi and they went to the time limit and Fuyuki asked for 5:00 more, the fans started booing and chanting “We Want Sasuke” and when the ref ordered the match re-started fans were chanting “End this match.”
And they’d keep Rice Pudding Tits around for years!
Ultimo Dragon & Masao Orihara vs. The Great Sasuke & SATO
I don’t know SATO but after that previous match he could be Idi Amin and I’d still be happy to see him.
This is the first ever encounter between Sasuke and Dragon, with both men feeling each other out in the Lucha style. They’re both Lucha obsessed Japanese guys and are probably big fans of Fighting Games. We clip ahead (what???) to Orihara locking in a Boston Crab on SATO but it’s a trap and Orihara lands a flying kick to a charging Sasuke. Orihara and SATO do that thing where they trade piledrivers until SATO rolls outside. Orihara things that means he’s ready for a moonsault but he “nopes” out the way and tags in Sasuke who works over Orihara at a moderate pace. Sasuke seems to be taking Orihara as seriously as The Dirt Bike Kid and even a slap to the face can’t motivate him so Dragon & Orihara land stereo diving headbutts off the top for two.
Dragon takes Sasuke’s hint and also works over Sasuke methodically until Orihara lands a mocking piledriver on the future politician. SATO saves his meal ticket by viciously powerbombing Orihara, leading to Dragon to spike SATO right onto his HEDO. Sasuke tries to take is slowly again but this results in a four-man Abominable Stretch for the hell of it. Dragon works over Sasuke at the same pace as they must be going long. SATO armbars Orihara but he comes back with a single crab and at least tries to make it interesting by glaring at Sasuke on the apron at the same time. SATO has enough and decides it’s time to DIVE HARD and lands a double jump swanton to the outside with Orihara following with a moonsault of his own, and Sasuke…fucks up!
I appreciate Sasuke’s attempt at a recovery there. Dragon ignores the crowd’s laughter to kick out of SATO’s Frankensteiner pin, with a Liger Bomb of his own being interrupted by Sasuke. Dragon manages a Victory Roll for two which kickstarts the ending sequence, with Orihara dodging Sasuke’s kicks and moonsaults and connecting with a rough powerbomb. There’s no way Orihara is pinning Sasuke, right? Orihara connects with a second to tease us some more with Sasuke kicking out, but missing a swanton off the top. Sasuke however rolls with it and connects with Sasuke Special #1 for two. Sasuke lands right onto Orihara’s kick and takes another Powerbomb and…kicks out. Come on now, there’s no way Orihara’s winning this? Stop teasing me. Orihara misses a moonsault but lands on feet, only to get sucked into a Frankensteiner pin for two as the crowd is thinking the same as me. SATO runs right into a lariat and Dragon tags in, only to run right into La Mahistral for two. Dragon retaliates with a Powerbomb and Orihara takes out Sasuke on the outside, leading to Dragon to land a Top Rope Frankensteiner and an in-ring Asai Moonsault and a German Suplex (No Bridge) to finally end it at 28:13.
Well I can’t blame them for taking it so easy in the first half if they were going that long because once they kicked it into second gear it didn’t stop rolling. The finishing sequence had me convinced the finish was happening at any time. and even that one messed up dive from Sasuke couldn’t dampen the spirits of the crowd.
On the 3/2 WAR card at Sumo Hall, the Ultimo Dragon & Masao Orihara match against Sasuke & Sato was a disappointment since Dragon & Orihara didn’t want to make the duo from the “minor league” promotion look good.
Hell, half-arsed M-Pro has been better than the majority of the card so work smarter, not harder I guess.
Super Strong Machine vs. Chris Jericho
Highlights only, with Jericho taking a wicked powerbomb before losing to a diving headbutt. 1 minute shown of a 8:11 minute match that didn’t go well according to Y2J:
The last match of the tour was a big show at Ryogoku, an 11,000-seat arena known as the Sumo Hall.
Ryogoku was where all of the important sumo matches had been held for hundreds of years. The Hall was a unique traditional Japanese venue; besides the chairs set up on the floor section there were no actual seats in the arena. There were only sections cordoned off by steel rails that held four people per section. The fans would sit cross-legged on the floor of their area and watch the show.
All of Tenryu’s big shows were held at Ryogoku and the draw to this one was a battle between WAR and New Japan. I was pitted against Super Strong Machine, a New Japan wrestler who’d worked for Stampede Wrestling as Sonny Two Rivers. I was nervous and Super Strong Machine kicked the shit out of me, but you know my mantra by now…I was taking him with me.
I kicked him square in the face and set him up for my new patented move of jumping straight up onto the top rope and drop-kicking him off the apron. Just as I took off running, the referee wandered right in front of me and I totally blew the spot.
I’d been Mal Mason-ed!
But the match still got a couple pages of coverage in the magazines, which was always a watermark of whether something was good or not. There was a great shot of Machine dumping me on my head and another of me caving in the side of his face with a spin kick. When all else fails, just beat the shit out of each other I always say.
King Haku vs. Mr. Hughes
Another match I’m glad we only got highlights of. Hughes is a replacement for John Tenta who re-joined WWF (for three months before following Hogan to WCW). Hughes kicks out a frigging Liger Bomb but comes back with a dropkick (!) before losing to a backdrop suplex. 1 minute shown of 10:36 and yes, Hughes’ shades stayed on the whole time.
Koji Ishinriki vs. Koji Kitao
Oh how the mighty have fallen. I know this is a battle of former Sumos but Ishinriki was also UWA Middleweight Champion a few months ago which I think WAR would like to move on from. His profile picture seems to realise this.
Kitao leg sweeps Koji with ease so he tries to come back with Sumo strikes but Kitao ignores them. A slap to the face only frustrates Kitao as does a small package, so Koji locks in an armbar with Kitao amazingly rolling out of it with ease to the crowd’s shock. Kitao pastes Ishinriki around until finishing him with a Big Arse Kick at 4:05.
This was an impressive showcase for Kitao who WAR have given a whole damn Dojo in order to build up, but a grim reminder of how fleeting glory can be as Ishinriki is now reduced to this.
Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs. Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto
Now that WAR has defeated NJPW, Tenryu turns his attention to the other big company of 1994…but AJPW don’t do interpromotional activity so that challening FMW, with this mega-match the reason for the show drawing 11,000 fans as Onita’s the hottest 1994 thing since The Tick.
Crowd is BANANA as Goto and Hara stare off as there appears to be as many FMW fans as WAR ones. Goto sends Hara outside to kickstart a brawl with Onita going into a guardrail but it’s just foreplay for now as everyone resets with Hara taking down Goto. Tenryu chops Goto but he’s not taking Mr. Wrestling lying down and shuts him up with a sit-out armbreaker causing Hara to tag in. You don’t see many of those kind of moves anymore. Onita tags in to bulldog Hara but he’s an old Japanese wrestler so he can’t be hurt by normal means. Tenryu tags in and we get the Rock/Austin style stare down as the crowd hasn’t stopped buzzing since this match begun.
Tenryu easily outmatches Onita with the moves and strikes so Onita sticks to small packages to keep him at bay. Onita heads into the ring post so he can start bleeding. He takes forever doing it as he didn’t actually need (or like) doing blading as he’d usually use barbed wire to make his back bleed. There’s none of that here and he takes so long slicing his forehead that Goto and Hara have to stall for him to get back inside.
Tenryu kicks Onita right in the wound to help out, with Onita blatantly picking at it while taking Hara lariats. Goto gets the hot tag and blasts Hara down with ease as it’s easy to forget how agile the guy was in his FMW prime. Even Onita gets into it with a top rope dropkick (!) before Tenryu gets a Dirty Powerbomb and Goto starts another outside brawl. Tenryu starts slapping the shit out of him which enables Onita to DDT Tenryu through the ropes while he’s focusing on him. I enjoy Onita’s strategy of having to outsmart his much tougher foes, which works until Hara lariats him down and Goto cracks Tenryu with a chair. Hara lariats Goto but he’s pissed off now and fires back with his own to the crowd’s delight. Hara won’t stay down so Goto splashes him off the top which seems to finally have an effect. Tenryu re-appears, bleeding from the chair shot as he watches his mate take side suplex after side suplex until he makes the tag and groggily lariats Onita down. Blind elbow gets broken up by Goto, which draws the ire of Tenryu again but Goto’s like “NAW MATE” and delivers a Fall-Forward Piledriver onto a Japanese Table.
Back inside, Tenyru kicks out of more of Onita’s rubbish DDTs and nearly loses to Onita’s Fire Thunder Powerbomb. Goto and Onita wipe out Hara from the match by slamming him into the ring post, with Tenryu trying to fight off both men with enziguris. Goto’s top rope splash can’t put Tenryu away and the crowd is practically gushing now. Ref gets very AEW-y by allowing Onita and Goto to double team Tenryu to their heart’s content but they can’t put Mr. Wrestling away.
Tenryu locks in an Abominable Stretch on Onita, and Hara returns like Jason to grab at Goto, but instead this draws the ire of the ref and allows Goto to enziguri Tenryu multiple times. This sets up the awesome finishing sequence as Tenryu takes three flying kicks before managing to duck the fourth…and ends up putting himself into a Fire Thunder Powerbomb from Onita for the win and shocked crowd at 18:13.
The importance of wins and losses in Japan fascinates me, with the biggest stars never losing to up-and-comers in their first encounters. Onita is a megastar in terms of attendances but because his biggest victories were over legends like The Sheik and Tiger Jeet Singh, it’s debatable on how he could be compared to his contemporaries. Too big for indies yet too garbage to beat fellow headliners. All debate was ended after this, with Onita managing to defeat THE LAST MAN TO PIN INOKI (which only happened two months ago!) clean as a whistle because Tenryu is smart enough to add fuel to Onita’s fire rather than smother it.
Also there’s a giant FMW stadium show coming up that Tenryu can help with. Look at the big brain on Tenryu!
The match itself was a lot of fun. I know a lot of people won’t enjoy Onita’s roughness and much lower skill-set (it took him two attempts to deliver the final powerbomb) but I’m of the opinion that the differing styles is what *makes* the match feel like a real clash of two different worlds, especially with both teams working with it resulting in Goto/Onita having to wrestle like The Shield just to keep up.
Overall: Same review as ever: Watch the Dragon and Tenryu matches and fuck everything else. The real stars of the show were the editors for doing their best to make the undercard watchable, even if they needed a chainsaw to do it this time around. They probably should have used it on some of the wrestlers instead.
