WAR Wrestle And Romance – Battle Angel In Ryogoku 03/26/95
By Maffew Gregg on 24 March 2024
Wrestle And Romance
Sumo Hall, Tokyo
Attendance: 7,500
The two biggest feuds in WAR right now are Fuyuki-Gun vs. NJPW’s Ishingun, and Tenryu vs. Onita. Sadly the second one’s a shoot.
So FMW’s Tarzan Goto & Hisakatsu Oya were announced for this show but got removed shortly afterwards:
In what may or may not be an angle, Genichiro Tenryu called a press conference on 3/6 and announced that FMW and Atsushi Onita had backed out of sending Tarzan Goto & Hisakatsu Oya to the WAR Sumo Hall show on 3/26 and were keeping them to work their own house show that night. Tenryu said that he knew a lot of fans had bought tickets to see Goto & Oya face WAR wrestlers in the semifinal and apologized to fans who had already bought tickets. He said that Onita is the lowest form of human in the wrestling business because he broke his promise and that he would never do business with FMW again. Tenryu said that he would wrestle twice on the card as a goodwill gesture to those who had already purchased tickets, wrestling both in the semifinal and in the originally scheduled main event against Yokozuna. Since FMW had called a press conference on 3/7 to address those charges, that’s why it may be an angle.
After Tenryu’s press conference on 3/6, which saw him get so mad at Onita for pulling Goto & Oya from his show that he pounded his head on a desk until he split his own head open, Onita had a press conference the next day. Onita apologized and said as president of FMW he had promised Goto & Oya to WAR but said he was no longer president of FMW. He said FMW was promoting a show on 3/26 in Hyogo, which is near Kobe where the earthquake hit and said the local promoter of the show wanted Goto & Oya on the show. After those comments, WAR president Takei said all relations with FMW are over forever, and that Animal Hamaguchi would visit Choshu at the New Japan gym on 3/9 to try and get Choshu to appear on the big show.
If that wasn’t enough, this is going head-to-head with AJW Wrestling Queendom 1995 Victory show at the Yokohama Arena.
But besides that, everything’s great.
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament Quarter Final
Gedo vs. Yuji Yasuraoka
Bell rings and Gedo gets a sneaky German suplex immediately because he’s FUYUKI-GUN. Gedo just steamrolls Yuji and his HHH Promo Length-long mullet. Yuji can’t win with La Magistral and Gedo can’t win with his Running Tornado DDT so finishers suck tonight. Gedo wins with a Double Arm at 7:21. Nothing much here.
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament Quarter Final
1-2-3 Kid vs. Negro Casas
Now this is interesting! I guess the WWF/WAR relationship is back on. Kid tries going though Casas’ legs but he stops him as he exits the legs (so-to-speak) to grab a wrist-lock because Casas rules. This is cruelly clipped to hell, with Kid landing his career-defining corner kick combo. Casas turns an Irish whip into a choke to set up the Flying Nothing. Kid keeps throwing kicks until one of them lands, following Casas to the outside with a smooth Quebrada. Casas comes back with a crossbody but a second attempt is blocked so a TIGHT Northern Lights ends it at 4:40 for The Kid. Oh wow, they didn’t clip much out of this then, it was just really short. What we got was beautifully smooth.
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament Quarter Final
Lionheart Chris Jericho vs. Masao Orihara
Orihara is attacked by Jado before the match starts, so he’s still wearing his bad-ass jacket which sadly gets in the way of an attempted Frank through a table with Orihara taking the brunt of it on his shoulder. Jado’s mate Jericho follows with a risky dropkick-off-the-top-to-the-outside. Not content with that level of craziness, Orihara immediately tries to follow with the ORIHARA MOONSAULT but Jericho casually side-steps as Orihara crashes and burns on the concrete. So far this has been more dangerous than a Nikita Lyons match. Jericho works over Orihara’s shoulder but he needs to get *something* in before he loses so a casual Tombstone Piledriver it is. Orihara folds Jericho like Nana’s laundry with a Spider German off the top, holding onto the ropes so he can jump face-first into Jericho’s foot. And Jericho kicked him like Johnny Wilko there, Jesus. Jericho delivers his own causal tombstone before the Lionsault finishes at 8:52. These two went heavier than French Hard-synth.
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament First Round Match
Ultimo Dragon vs. Ultimate Dragon
No, Dragon’s not fighting the early WCW Monday Nitro version of himself, this is Thunderbird Como. He’d only stick with this gimmick for another month before changing to Black Dragon so might as well do the obvious match up while we can.
Ultimate lands on his feet after an attempted Fireman’s Carry but his Frankensteiner Pin gets countered easily. Both trade dropkicks and armdrags to show it’s equal! Until Ultimo Liger Bombs him straight afterwards. Top Rope Frank gets two, leading to a crossbody roll through to demonstrate why these two didn’t collide much: Ultimate is way smaller than his opponent, leading to not the smoothest of exchanges. Anyway, Ultimate is still able to springboard clothesline Ultimo outside to set up the reason why you may have heard of this match:
YEAH A BLOODY SSP TO THE OUTSIDE. Ultimo avoids a follow-up off the top but La Magistral somehow doesn’t get the pin, but the German Suplex Free Bridge In Every Packet does at 9:58.
Absolutely insane spot aside, this was a nice idea but the execution wasn’t the greatest so I’m glad these two only had one singles match that can be fondly remembered for that one amazing spot and nothing else.
Masanobu Kurisu, Nobukazu Hirai & Ryuma Go vs. Hiroshi Itakura, Missing Link & Osamu Tachihikari (w/Mr. Toyota)
This is one of Osamu’s first matches, teaming up with The Missing Link whose career started in the 1960s. But with the facepaint on he doesn’t look a day over someone who started in the 1970s (which is everyone else in the match).
We’re clipped to everyone playing with Osamu like it’s his first night in the joint. Kurisu realises how boring he is and decides to mess with him in one my favourite spots of all time:
Link tags in to chants of LINK-UH. I love the respect Japanese fans have for veterans of any style. Link uses his head multiple times on Hirai and manages to bust himself open in the process. We clip ahead as the editor scrambles to find anything worth highlighting until Kurisu wraps Itakura in a cocoon of pain at 10:49. Crowd were just happy to see the wrestlers show up.
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament Semi Final
Gedo vs. 1-2-3 Kid
Gedo starts off hot by taking a beautiful delayed sell from the jumping sidekick, bending over backwards like Matt Riddle defenders. Gedo side-steps a dive from Kid but falls right into the dreaded three kicks in the corner. Every wrestler so far has sold those kicks like Pete Williams which is amusing considering it became window dressing in the West. Kid expects Gedo coming from the different side on an Irish whip so it looks like Gedo expertly dodges a big kick but it’s just dumb luck. Man, even when 1995 Kid is off he’s on. Kid successfully lands the crazy diving senton off the top that he’d stop doing by the 2000s. Kid starts dominating Gedo so crowd starts getting behind him, which is weird for a heel, especially with Gedo using a mule kick low blow to regain the advantage. We clip ahead to remove something presumably messed up to Gedo winning with a German Suplex No Bridge All Impact at 7:08.
And the crowd still cheered the heel victory! The WAR crowd were sucking all the air out of the Fuyuki-Gun exhaust pipe in 1995. Kid was great here, despite reports he performed “under-par” due to a concussion.
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament Semi Final
Lionheart Chris Jericho vs. Ultimo Dragon
This isn’t Jericho’s career-definer. He gets mad at the lack of crowd support before both men run through a fast paced series of near-falls from the very get-go with both getting near-falls in the first minute. Jericho press slams Dragon over the ropes to the outside before following with the Springboard Moonsault and a big “YEAHH!” Falling headbutt off the top rope gets two as Jericho really gets stuck into yelling at the crowd (“STOP ASKING WHERE MY WIFE WAS”) enabling Dragon to land the ASAI MOONSAULT on the outside. Jericho simply shrugs it off for some reason, before falling for a leg lock pin for two, looking like only Jericho’s own momentum helped him kick out. Jericho is the perfect dance partner for Ultimo, versed enough in Lucha to know how to follow and big enough to throw Dragon around if need be. After a Top Rope Frankensteiner, Jericho dodges an in-ring moonsault (Lionsault?) and locks in a Figure Four on his now-hurt leg. Jericho’s hamminess is working wonders here with the crowd helping Ultimo resist the urge to tap. Jericho again gets caught yelling at people (“I DIDN’T SIGN ANY NDAS”) enabling Dragon to drop him with a front Suplex off the top rope, but Jericho’s able to somehow kick out of La Magistral. Tiger Suplex can’t put away Dragon and neither can more yelling (“ME AND KELLY KELLY ARE JUST FRIENDS”) so Jericho tries a second rope powerbomb…for two. A quick powerbomb results in a Sunset Flip reversal giving us a Kurt Angle 2.999 kick out for Jericho, however Dragon counters the follow-up Lionsault with a dropkick. But Jericho waits for Dragon to attempt going to the top rope only to follow him, but Dragon counters whatever he was going for with a Sunset Flip and that gets a 2.999999 kick out. Crowd are loving this. Then Jericho rolls up Dragon out of nowhere at 11:19 for the pin and a tremendous “AHHHH NO YOU TALENTED BASTARD” reaction from the fans. These guys were stunning together, no wonder Jericho made it in USA because of his series with Ultimo.
Arashi vs. Jado
Why did they re-hire Arashi? Were they out of draft excluders? Jado’s a good sport and oversells all the sumo-based offence but Fuyuki-Gun are so over that there’s notable cheers for the heel. Jado comes back with some dives off the top before missing an enziguri he wasn’t supposed to miss. Just as I’m about to write this one off, Jado suplexes Arashi from inside the ring to the outside, following up with a rolling swanton. Crowd is now chanting for ARSAHI. Jado follows a Northern Lights Suplex by walking on water. Uranage gets two so Arashi goes up top, looking like Baron Harkonen before taking a Superplex for two. Top Rope Frankensteiner can’t put the big lad away so he comes back with a bear hug and connects with a very decent frog splash…for two. Crowd are very very into this. Jado’s leading Arashi the entire time to the point where you can see the strings but in fairness he’s also taking more bumps in one match that he did all of last year. Jado wails on Arashi until he connects with a giant flying side kick and actually wins to big cheers with a German Suplex.
Jesus what an improvement. Tokyo Pro Wrestling must have been bad if it scared Arashi into taking bumps. (edit: I found out later that it’s a different wrestler under the gimmick hahahaha)
Koki Kitahara vs. Death Mask
Oh God, here’s Bradshaw doing a knock-off Undertaker gimmick. Funny that they’d end up close friends after this. Brad stares at Koki after taking multiple shots to show that he is in fact dead, before landing some elbows and refusing to stop choking Koki with a rope. Only thing deader than Bradshaw is the crowd. We clip ahead and the crowd still don’t care, maybe Brad’s too alive for an Undertaker gimmick. Or maybe the crowd wanted Brian Lee. Koki rolls him into a crucifix (ahhhh no it burns) at 7:48. Like the first four months of JBL, this didn’t work.
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament Finals
Gedo vs. Lionheart Chris Jericho
FUYUKI-GUN EXPLODES. Both lads have their fair share of fans though and they show how much they know each other by blasting through a fast series of near-falls and dodges. Why does the Indie Stand-Off look so much better in the 90s? We clip ahead to Jericho kicking out of a Jado top rope headbutt. Jericho almost gets wrapped up in Gedo’s enormous loose blouse during a backslide, but a very close German Suplex makes everyone forget about it. Jericho’s springboard plancha is still impressive, made even more so thanks to the cameraman stood underneath looking up. Jericho gets two from splashing Gedo’s hair. Gedo’s always-sloppy running tornado DDT results in Gedo DDTing Jericho onto himself. C’mon lads get it together. Tenryu Special makes Jericho squeal (“I TRUST OMAHA STEAKS”) and he uses his volume to demonstrate how close to submitting he is. It’s very effective as the crowd squeal along with him. Jericho gets the ropes which allows him to land a Winipegga Slamma for two. It doesn’t help either of them come to their senses though as both are on different pages. Like Gedo gets on the apron so both men land clotheslines one another, followed by Gedo trying to counter a tope with a dropkick and mostly missing. Things get back on track with both men going for quick pins and reversals until Jericho lands a big scoop slam off the top for two. That was pretty. Jericho continues to be the aggressor which is for the best as it allows Gedo to simply counter things instead of trying to lead. He’s a follower. This finally results in the late-counter Frankensteiner off the top that goes better here than it would at Halloween Havoc for the victory and title at 19:31 (strewth).
I get why WAR chose Gedo as the next guy cos they couldn’t just have Ultimo on top forever, and Fuyuki-Gun was red hot at the minute. Gedo’s fine in a tag or multi matches but these big singles matches only highlight how lacking in confidence he is, as well as being about as smooth as a badger’s arse. Jericho did his best but Gedo in singles matches was simply Ricky Fuji with a bigger mullet.
Animal Hamaguchi & Riki Choshu vs. Heisei Ishingun (Michiyoshi Ohara & Tatsutoshi Goto)
The Original vs. The Remake. Crowd love the sight of Ishin back together again, as well as Animal’s yelling, clearly stealing from the late, great Chris Jericho. I’m glad they’re happy cos I’m not looking forward to another Goto match, aka Plod Is God.
Animal is limited but still able to throw dropkicks and hard-arse slaps. Ohara’s slaps are woeful so Riki wastes no time caving his cheeks in and applying the Scorpion Deathlock, staring at Goto on the apron the whole time before dragging the still-locked Ohara to his corner so Animal can get some strikes in. Oh that was manly. Animal’s stacked all his XP into basic strikes as his dropkicks and elbows are delivered with energy but everything else is held together with prayer. Ohara takes down Riki with eye rakes and double headbutts which is good training for when Riki decides to wrestle the Bushwhackers. Riki’s offence is so energised compared to everybody else it’s funny to watch. He’s powered by his own grumpiness. That aside. there’s not a hell of a lot here as it’s just a feel-good (or feel-miserable in Riki’s case) match with Animal pinning Ohara after a Samoan Drop at 7:30. Just a bit of fun for the crowd.
Genichiro Tenryu vs. Yokozuna (w/Mr. Toyota)
Yokozuna’s last time in Japan. He definitely wasn’t the performer he was in 1994 but Tenryu’s got to get his win back against the fake sumo. Wally Yamaguchi’s at ringside, waving the Japanese flag in honour of Yoko. Yep.
Yoko does the throat-slice taunt while Tenryu stares with the same look De Niro gives in Goodfellas when Cream started playing. Tenryu can’t slam as Yoko is much softer and doughier than he was last time so Tenryu takes a few slams instead, followed by Yoko stopping to get advice from Kim Duk. Yoko takes his always impressive slow fall outside the ring, leading to more stalling. Yoko needs to use a chair to get back in the ring, with Tenryu taking an avalanche in the corner with the crowd having minor heart attacks at the sight of it all. Yoko’s working a lot smarter here for sure and Tenryu’s one of the best for getting a lot out of a little. The ref pleads for Yoko to stop attacking Tenryu who is now busted open from Yoko’s arse. Yoko’s sadly so gassed that he can barely apply a nerve hold properly so Tenryu is thrown outside so the photographers can get shots of the red stuff. Tenryu lands a desperate Dirty Elbow on Yoko but Kim Duk uses a stun gun (!) on Tenryu, which Yoko doesn’t approve of, leading to Kim ducking outside after a sumo shove. A shocked, bleeding and possibly incontinent Tenryu then runs into a belly to belly but kicks out. Another half-ton of bum lands across his face but demented, paralysed and lupus-stricken Tenryu kicks out. Yoko is gone completely and he can’t even pretend he isn’t, with his Banzai Drop lacking any of semblance of grace from years gone by. Tenryu of course dodges and smashes Yoko with a lariat to end the longest 11:20 of his life.
On one hand, this was as good as it could possibly have been, but on the other it was sad seeing Yoko’s body failing him in real time. Tenryu made it watchable because he really is Mr. Wrestling.
Hiromichi Fuyuki & Masahiro Chono vs. Heisei Ishingun (Kengo Kimura & Shiro Koshinaka)
First non-Tenryu main event in forever. He’s still sat at ringside, likely because he doesn’t have the strength to walk back to the locker room after carrying Yoko. WAR going back to beefing with NJPW seems counter productive but then again so was relying on just-retired Hara and about-to-retire Animal. So we’ve got Chono who is now all-in on the Yakuza gimmick which probably explains the sell out crowd (cough cough).
Heisei Ishingun had a lovely run during the original WAR/NJPW feud turning guys like Fuyuki into PVA glue, so you’d think this would be Fuyuki’s time to get a win. But you can never tell with Japanese booking. Fuyuki trades yells with Shiro before Chono simply Yazuka Kicks him right in the skull. Fuyuki doesn’t appreciate being shown up but does appreciate Chono’s help double teaming. Chono’s moving around a lot snappier than he was last time he showed up to WAR, neither Ishin-goon can slow him down. Kengo removes his ponytail to show he’s serious and the crowd “oooooohs” before he immediately gets double teamed haha. Shiro’s as limited as always but he’s able to ham up his expressions which works well for Fuyuki who’s 75% ham. Chono gets battered around, including taking a double stomp from Shiro. John Wick couldn’t get me to take that. Chono’s up and about but somehow takes a phantom bump and tags out of embarrassment. Then, when Shiro’s not looking Chono kicks him in the back. OK that made me laugh. It all breaks down into a big mess until Shiro JFKs Fuyuki with his arse off the top rope. It’s a good job Fuyuki’s packed on the pounds or he’d look like a Pez dispenser. Shiro and Kengo treat Fuyuki the same way they treated him last year, which is with absolutely no breaks in between beatdowns and remorseless kicking. After three powerbombs, Chono saves Fuyuki with a well-timed kick to the noggin. Fuyuki lets his mates get some shots in on Kengo to the delight of the crowd. Funny how he’s more over with his cheating then he ever was as a good guy. Shiro gets absolutely blasted in the back of the head by Chono before getting low-blowed by the organised crime guy also. Crowd boos Chono’s cheating but is thrilled with Fuyuki-Gun’s run-ins, because they’re WAR’s cheaters, dammit. Chono headbutts and elbows Shiro until he’s bleeding from the forehead because he’s really cheesed off about that phantom bump. Fuyuki stomps and laughs until Chono tags in, with Shiro trying desperately to come back but Chono is not in the mood and STFs him instead. Chono’s a dick. Shiro’s being worked over so much you’d think he was the face, but the crowd is thrilled with the abuse he’s receiving. Yeah FUCK YOU SHIRO and your ARSE BASED OFFENCE. As soon as Shiro makes a comeback and tries to roll up Fuyuki, Chono runs in and Yakuza Kicks the ref. I laughed like Red Dwarf repeats were on in the background. Kengo tries to help but Chono ignores everything from him too, until Fuyuki puts Kengo in a Single Crab and he…taps at 20:38. Oh! Well OK then.
As soon as the bell rings, Tenryu attacks everybody in the ring including Fuyuki and Chono. He absolutely kicks the shit out of Chono and drops him with a Dirty Powerbomb before demanding the ref count the pin. Fuyuki and Chono drop Mr. Wrestling with a spike piledriver and get booed. Why, they’re acting in self-defence!
Oh so then Choshu arrives to help his mate Tenryu chase the bad men away. What? It was Tenryu who started it! Tenryu talks shite and yells a lot to end what was an otherwise fine match. There was none of the crazy heat of last time, it was more “hey come see Chono do stuff” than anything else but what Chono did was pretty sweet to be fair. Just a complete dick the entire time while Fuyuki stomped a lot.
Overall: What a tremendous tape with way more positives than negatives, rare for WAR. A lot of variety and the fans’ loved most of the negative stuff (sorry Bradshaw), and more importantly a reminder about how frigging great Jericho was at one point. Ahhhh good stuff.
Financial – Drawing 7,500 fans in an 11,000-seat arena is okay, especially when the hardcore fans were split between this and the women’s show which were taking place at the same time. What looked to be a disaster may have saved the show. When Atsushi Onita pulled the FMW boys off the show, Genichiro Tenryu needed to go to Riki Choshu and New Japan for help in saving the show and the appearance of several New Japan wrestlers, Choshu in particular, probably helped the gate.
Show quality – By all accounts, not very good. But WAR rarely is. The junior heavyweight tournament which included Ultimo Dragon, Lion Heart, Negro Casas and 1-2-3 Kid was a disappointment with the exception of the Heart vs. Gedo championship match.
Outlook for the future – WAR has long been a second-tier promotion in Japan. To run a major show and garner any interest, they need help from other offices. In this case, even with help from New Japan (including Choshu and Masa Chono), WWF (Kid and Yokozuna), and Heisei Ishingun among others, they couldn’t put together a real main event or sellout. Whatever success they may achieve in the future for a big show depends entirely on the quality of wrestlers other promotions will lend them. On their own they don’t have what it takes.
