WWF Mania Tour Night 1: Yokohama Mania 05/07/94

World Wrestling Federation/Wrestle And Romance

Yokohama Arena
Attendance: “8,056”

Previously In WAR…

WWF held a press conference on Friday and announced Japanese wrestlers Genichiro Tenryu, Masao Orihara, Nobukazu Hirai and Yuji Yasuraoka (WAR), Masashi Aoyagi (NSBW), Ginsei Shinzaki (Michinoku Pro) and Bull Nakano, Kyoko Inoue and Sakie Hasegawa (All Japan women) would be working the WWF Japan Mania tour in May. The big surprise from the announcement was that Atsushi Onita’s name wasn’t on that list. (note: he was probably too busy fucking). Madusa (as she’ll be called in Japan) will be wrestling Nakano twice, Kyoko once and Hasegawa once on the tour. Apparently the way the deal is structured is she’ll split the matches with Nakano and win her other bouts with Kyoko doing the Hiroshi Hase role of being the good company person and carrying the big name on the major show and putting them over.

Sadly the idea of running Japan during Golden Week meant WWF had to follow two giant shows drawing 50,000+ so the crowd was announced as 8,056 but was apparently closer to 4,000 which made it the smallest crowd ever for the Yokohama Arena (which is still an improvement on a lot of their American dates during this time).

Rick Martel vs. The 1-2-3 Kid

Bill Dunn starts the show by yelling “konbanwa!” as only he can. Meltzer says Martel is replacing a “no-showing Shawn Michaels” which I don’t think is true. Crowd is very appreciative of Kid early on as the camera work is rough and misses nearly everything. We get to see Martel’s Boston Crab being treated as a transitional move before Kid comes back with a crossbody and a Northern Lights Suplex. Kid lands a summersault leg drop off the top he is supposed to miss but Martel is too slow dodging so he get hit but ignores it and locks in the Boston Crab for the submission, which is done so undramatically that the fans are stunned for a few seconds when the ref holds Martel’s hand up at 6:50.

Crowd are a mixture of amused and disgusted, Jesus. What a way to start a tour!

Tatanka vs. Jinsei Shinzaki

Guy holding the camera laughs when he hears the Native American yelling at the start of the theme and yells “Tatanka-eh!” when he remembers his name. Crowd loves his little stomping, Tatanka-eh is over wherever he goes. Back and forth action sees Tatanka actually use a Japanese Armdrag in Japan. Oh my God, it finally happened! Jinsei follows that with the rope walk as the crowd goes wild. A diving headbutt off the top gets a ONE-COUNT as the astonished fans witness Jinsei turn Tatanka into an accordion with a backdrop suplex. He comes back with one of his own and then REVS UP HIS INJUN to the crowd’s glee before putting away Jinsei with the Papoose To Go at 7:21.

Clearly WWF liked what they saw as Hakushi would debut for them full-time in November. Tatanka would stick around until 1996 which still boggles the mind.

WWF World Tag Titles

The Headshrinkers vs. The Smoking Gunns

Fatu & Samu are the current champs after beating The Quebecers out of nowhere as the tag division suddenly dies for a few years. The Gunns aren’t firing blanks into the audience so the Prime Ministers can relax. Not a lot of love from the crowd for either team cos these fans aren’t stupid. OK they’re paying for 1994 WWF but they’re not *that* stupid. Not much happens until Bart teases a monkey flip out the corner which gets countered by Samu simply dumping him and the fans laugh. Samu wakes them up by landing a clothesline on Billy who takes the Jannetty Sell in the process and then everyone runs in to take it as well.

One guy near the camera yelled “oh my!” every time someone did the Jannetty. It was nice when being associated with Marty was a positive. Fatu distracts the ref so Samu can crotch Bart on the outside as the crowd gets a good ol’ booing going on. Bart gets worked over until Bart manages to roll out of the way of a diving headbutt and tag in Billy who does the 10-count in the corner with the Japanese crowd counting in English. Bart tries the Double Noggin Knocker but THEY’RE SAMOAN so they ignore it and double headbutt Billy to set up Le Bomb Du Samoan, which is interrupted by Bart so he can get a cheeky schoolboy…for two. Samu blasts a running Billy as he bounces off the ropes causing Fatu to superkick him for the win at 12:04. Solid match that overcame six minutes of nothing.

Oh then the salty cowboys attack the Samoans afterwards to raise the titles that aren’t theirs as the crowd applaud politely but can be heard telling people “I hear the division sucks until the New Age Outlaws show up.”

Doink The Clown vs. Nobukazu Hirai

Crowd are happy to see Doink but are REALLY happy to see Dink. The Clowns take forever to get into the ring so Hirai goes over to them only to get sprayed in the eyes by Dink. With water hopefully, but you never know. This is all about Dink fucking with Hirai and as someone who has seen too many Hirai matches, I welcome it. Hirai gets sent outside from a dropkick so Dink dances in the ring to mock him. Doink holds Hirai down as Dink stomps him and then breakdances while the referee making no effort to get him out (A E DUB A E DUB).

Hirai gets a few little elbows as Dink gets the crowd clapping to support the big Clown. Camera misses the in-ring action to focus on Dink before a Whoopee Cushion ends it at 6:41. If this match happened in America no-one would have cared, but the Japanese fans loved the little bastard too much for me to hate this.

Bull Nakano vs. Alundra Blayze

Oh here we fucking go. This isn’t announced as being for Blayze’s WWF Women’s Title but both of them get shown the belt before the bell rings anyway. “Look at what you could have won.” Both exchange hard shots before a Frankensteiner pin gets two for Alundra. Bull can’t get any sustained offence as Alundra dropkicks her off the second rope and follows with a top rope cross body to the outside. Both carry on full-speed back inside with the pins getting exchanged before Bull locks in the beautiful Scorpion Crosslock.

God that move ruled. Alundra gets a Boston Crab, shades of the late great Rick Martel as the match slows down with submissions. Blayze gets a X-Pac style swing kick and the Hebner’s count is notably faster for Alundra’s pin attempt, with everyone in the crowd noticing and going “hey wait a minute.” Blazye attempts a suplex with Bull takes as a DDT so a flustered Bull no-sells it to power up and lariat and powerbomb her opponent to save this match. Bull has her nun-chucks thrown into the ring, which she catches with ease and uses on Blayze’s mid-section with another powerbomb only getting two. Hebner’s counts are still way too damn fast so there’s little in the way of tension. Blayze delivers a high-angle superplex for another near-fall but Bull’s way too full of energy so she ignores it to deliver her devastating leg drop off the top…for two. Crowd yell at that. Bull misses a moonsault but still has enough to kick out of a German Suplex. Bull dodges a dropkick off the top to absolutely crush Alundra’s face with a Somersault leg drop at 9:45.

It wasn’t great as it was mostly you-do-a-move-and-then-i-do-a-move with nothing in between, but bloody hell were they working fast and hard compared to the rest of the show. I couldn’t even keep up with the move exchanges near the end so here’s Bull’s theme to enjoy while I give my hands a rest.

Owen Hart vs. Masashi Aoyagi

Oh this could be nice. Then Macho Man’s theme plays and the crowd gets excited, only for it to stop and everyone boo and yell “baka!!” as Owen Hart’s 1992 theme-that-sounds-exactly-like-I-Want-To-Be-A-Hulkamaniac kicks in.

Aoyagi kicks Owen as he makes his way into the ring so he’s covered in streamers as he bumps. A lot of this takes place on the mat and the camerawork isn’t doing it any favours. Crowd are heavily behind Aoyagi so Owen gets booed when he dares to escape a hold. Aoyagi removes his top and misses a few kicks, causing Owen to lock in the Sharpshooter at 6:28. Eh, this was nothing.

Adam Bomb vs. Bob Backlund

Look I’m doing my best to not type “Adam Bomb got a big pop in Japan” but the crowd did explode (in laughter) when they heard his name with the cameraman yelling “ha ha Bomb-uh!” Backlund comes out to no music so the crowd can soak him with cheers. Bob even kisses the ring announcer to keep the cheers coming.

Backlund immediately knee stretches around the ring and he is fired up, a stark contrast to all those Man Mountain Rock matches we’d get later on. Bomb declines the hand shake and we miss some crowd work as Bomb is playing heel. This slows way down so Bomb can stall to yell at the crowd whenever someone yells something at him. Which is every minute. So we get a test of strength with Backlund over-selling so the crowd can chant BOB-U BOB-U. Bob makes a meal out of this before finally escaping to lock in the Crossface Chicken Wing. Bomb escapes so Bob hams up a delayed Butterfly Suplex, with Bomb immediately recovering and turning into a small package for the win at 10:25 hahahahaha. If you want to see the hammiest Backlund match of all time then this was for you, even John Cena would have suggested he turn it down a bit.

Bam Bam Bigelow & Yokozuna vs. Genichiro Tenryu & The Undertaker

Yes he’s announced as Yokozuna, which is even more fascinating than Adam Bomb getting cheered. Crowd seem more interested in Mr. Fuji being at ringside anyway. Tenryu massively over as he gets manhandled by Bam, letting himself be worked over with even the enziguri having no effect. Yokozuna tags in and takes three lariats before landing outside. I loved Yoko’s slow-mo fall outside, just seeing all that mass move at once is so visually stimulating. Tenryu dodges a diving headbutt from Bam only for both men to double clothesline each other causing Undertaker and Yoko to tag in. Yoko falls outside again so Undi follows as the crowd are in awe of the dead man. Bam has to tag in and knock Undi down, who of course sits up repeatedly courtesy of BlueChew. Chokeslam takes Bam down but Yoko breaks up the pin, with Hebner slowing his count after the women’s match. Tenryu tags in to take more heat because he knows how this works. Yoko squishes him with a legdrop which gives us back-to-back NERVE HOLDS on poor Tenryu until finally Undi tags in. It all breaks down with even the cameraman losing control and filming the crowd. Everyone takes lariats and then Tenryu gets stuck trying to fall out the ring. Yoko makes it look so easy. Undi lands a flying clothesline and a giant DDT on Yoko, but he must have more strength in his home country as he recovers to uranage the Undi. Who sits up and chokes Yoko until Bam accidentally strikes Yoko with Fuji’s cane, letting Undi get the win as Tenryu clotheslines Bam out the ring at 18:17.

Tenryu was on form here with him keeping everything together while the others did their trademark spots. Wasn’t much outside of that.

J.J. Dillon tells the crowd that Vince McMahon says thanks for showing up. This is then translated and gets a polite applause. Except for me trying to process Dillon in WWF. Like Tony Schavione commentating Wrestlemania, I know it happened but it still doesn’t seem right.

WWF World Heavyweight Title

Bret Hart vs. Macho Man Randy Savage

Macho Man is very over, Bret is very not. Wristlocks and counters are exchanged with Bret hanging on to a hammerlock and taking down Savage. Macho taunts his way out before taking a breather, re-entering and offering a handshake before kicking Bret in the gut and slamming him down. Crowd get the hint and chant “GO BRET GO”. Savage chinlocks for a while until Bret sunset flips for a near-fall and then immediately gets clotheslined exiting it. Savage sends Bret outside to set up this wonderful photo opportunity:

Savage continues to beat down Bret with more Axe Handles but crowd’s really not wanting to boo him. They’ll cheer Bret but they ain’t booing Mach. Bret eventually sends a charging Savage out the ring before diving onto him on the outside. Bret misses the elbow off Bret’s Rope so Savage returns the favour by landing the elbow off Savage’s rope. Bret stuns the crowd by kicking out so Savage tries again, landing in a Bret punch to set up the Russian Leg Sweep to set up the Sharpshooter for the insta-submission at 17:48.

This was sadly only decent because the crowd just wasn’t into World Champ Bret, which you could understand in 1992 or 1993 but post-Wrestlemania X is a bit sad. Nothing bad here and Savage worked hard which isn’t always true when he’s in Japan but this isn’t a lost classic like the sweet photo would make you think.

Savage raises Bret’s hand after the bell as Bret poses to end the show and that’s that.

Dave says:

By and large the wrestlers attempted to wrestle Japanese-style, but those who attended, most of whom were familiar with WWF through its home video releases of PPV shows, expected more special effects and were disappointed with both the shows and the match quality. Undertaker, in his first matches since going on hiatus in January, was by far the most popular wrestler on the tour with Randy Savage second, although Savage tried to play heel against Hart but fans cheered him more than Hart anyway. The downside is that even though the wrestlers were trying to do Japanese style, there appeared to be a lack of understanding in that the referees counted fast on the pins (American style is slow throughout the match and fast for the finish while Japanese style is even counts throughout) and called for the bell the minute finishing submissions were put on, while Japanese fans expect the guys caught to put up a big struggle before submitting, which resulted in a lot of booing of the finishes in Yokohama. Although Bret Hart isn’t considered a major star by Japanese fans (even though the magazines have pushed him heavily as a great representative of wrestling), his matches with Savage and Bam Bam Bigelow the first two nights were said to have been great.

Overall: Hey the action may have been mostly bog-standard 1994 house show stuff but hearing the crowds react so strongly for guys like Tatanka and Dink The Fucking Clown made this a weirdly enjoyable show if you’re just into hearing crowd reactions. If you’re just a workrate fiend than make like the majority of fans and go attend FMW’s 5th Anniversary Show instead.

Dave Newman had a look at this show last year so check out his writings too.

I’ve been Maffew and I cheered for Dink when I saw him at GCW in 2017 too