World Japan – MAGMA01 Power Hall In Tokyo 04/19/03
By Maffew Gregg on 26 May 2024
World Japan
Korakuen Hall
Attendance: 1,680
We’re back at Korakuen Hall and it’s still not sold out, which is known in the business as “a bad thing.”
Takashi Uwano vs. Masahiko Kochi
More Young Lions action to start the show. The lads start clattering one another with hard slaps to the face to give us THE TRUE FAITH early on.
Kochi gets two off a double stomp before landing his delicious running STO. Little else occurs until Uwano The Underachiever drops Kochi directly onto his head so Kochi returns the favour with Uwano staying in the position he lands in like he’s glitching the game. This builds and builds and it’s well done but I’ve seen a million of these black tight openers and you eventually become desensitised to them. After some meaty Germans, Boston Crab ends a perfectly cromulent opener at 13:26.
Nobutaka Araya vs. Hideki Hosaka
Oh no, not Hosaka. He’s on loan from AJPW, reminding me of that one Yucko The Clown joke:
“I rented Beer League from Blockbusters. I asked them when they wanted it back, they told me “ah don’t worry about it!””
Hosaka mis-times a dropkick and the crowd cheers. We hit the chop-off early AND THEN! Nothing happens. Hosaka lands a naff spear and his clumsy DVD gets zero reaction. He manages a pretty decent jumping Frankensteiner before Araya spikes him with a Koko B Ware-style Brainbuster. Yikes. Hosaka kicks out of a few lariats before finally succumbing to the moonsault at 8:18.
Absolutely nothing until the last two minutes but the crowd gave them respect so well done Hosaka, you’ve improved to “passable”.
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Ricky Fuji
First Hosaka and now Fuji? Mid-Tier FMW invades World Japan! Up next: HORACE HOGAN. Ishii slams the life out of Fuji before Ricky comes back with his nothing offence until Ishii lands some German Suplexes and a Brainbuster to end at 10:55.
Ricky Fuji was a light heavyweight who didn’t change his style when he became a heavyweight and instead chose no style at all. Picture Lexis King with worse gear and you’re nearly there.
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Jinsei Shinzaki
Shinzaki lands some shoulder blocks but Sasaki simply stares at him. Yeah this ain’t M-Pro. Shinzaki manages to knock him down with a flying shoulder tackle but Sasaki stands up WITH AUTHORITY. Sasaki tries one of his axe-sized chops but Shinzaki blocks it to set up the Prayer Walk but Sasaki tosses him off so Shinzaki takes a breather as the crowd roar their approval. Hell yeah. Shinzaki and his four shoulders try to test Sasaki’s strength but that’s like fighting a house so he’s able to kip up and out. Sasaki continues to pound away while yelling at Shinzaki’s attempt at fighting back. This match rules. Shinzaki is so animated while taking offence, allowing Sasaki to rest while his opponent is glaring at him like the moon from Majora’s Mask. Shinzaki tries to come back but Sasaki ends that with a well-timed lariat. A Dragon Screw Whip helps him get back on track which allows the big man to springboard dropkick the bigger man.
Shinzaki’s Praying Powerbomb falls on deaf ears as Sasaki easily powers out but Shinzaki is able somehow able to try again for two. God was too busy listening to Choshu beg for financial aid to help Shinzaki. Top rope splash misses allowing Sasaki to powerslam for two. Judo throw continues the onslaught as Shinzaki is now covered in sweat. The wetness enables him to land a slippery jumping Frankensteiner pin but Sasaki kicks out and he’s even able to emote his anger in the kick out. What a man. He sets up the lariat and Shinzaki blocks/absorbs it by standing directly in front of Sasaki which looked like it sucked but was great at the same time.
Sasaki isn’t impressed so he lands another and finishes it with the Northern Lights Bomb at 14:56, with Shinzaki weakly trying to kick out even at the very end.
Yes, this was more like it. Motivated Sasaki is a beautiful thing to witness, along with Shinzaki being more than happy to oblige the mutual desire to wreck his body for people’s entertainment. Both men were able to fit in some of their small bits of character too, which ended up being stoical (mullet) vs. stoical (bald) with both trying to make the other crack with their stiffness. Recommended match you can view here.
Genichiro Tenryu vs. Shiro Koshinaka
Shiro is raging and starts by throwing a chair into Tenryu’s face so he can catch it and execute THE ASSINATOR before the bell rings. Angry Tenryu responds by dragging Shiro kicking & screaming into the crowd so he can jump off the cheap seats. Tenryu gets cocky and thinks Shiro is more hurt than he is, which allows Shiro to throw THE ASS at Tenryu re-entering the ring. Top rope THE ASS keeps Shiro on the offensive until Tenryu Sulks Up and dares Shiro to keep hitting him. The old bastards go chop for chop until another THE ASS busts Tenryu’s eye open. Making his brown eye weep. Shiro keeps busting out THE ASS with the crowd ironically yelling “wheeey” like Brits when a bartender drops a glass. Shiro dives off the other side of the crowd with even more THE ASS.
A second offers Tenryu some water (to avoid infection) but he lobs it at Shiro instead. It finally slows down after that so I guess both men needed the water. Tenryu misses a Blind Elbow with Shiro coolly turning it into a pin-fall with the smoothness of a wiped THE ASS. Tenryu gets slowly worked over as both men’s tanks are running a bit low now but Shiro still has enough to punch Tenryu right in the mouth and Superplex him. Tenryu immediately stands up and punches Shiro in a funny moment. Shiro responds by kicking out at 1 from a lariat and the match is on again! Tenryu grumpily drops Shiro with the 52 Years Old at 12:09 and yells “fuck” afterwards before doing a mock courtesy and sodding off.
The more miserable Tenryu is the better the match, well done for Shiro for being irritating enough to bring out the best in him. Anyway this was a wonderful encounter with both men doing their best to keep it stiff and interesting, two good ways to live life. When Tenryu is mad he does his best to end the match as quickly as possible which gave this the urgency it needed to make an impression. Another match worth looking for.
Kenzo Suzuki & Riki Choshu vs. Takao Omori & Yoji Anjo
Anjo earned his spot in this main event by losing last time. Riki starts off with Takao and dogs him worse than his last years in Zero-One. Kenzo tags in for similar but worse which has the crowd realise they’re supposed to be chanting for Anjo which goes down like a cup of cold sick. Anjo tags in and immediately gets chopped to death in the corner by his much larger opponents, with Riki hitting the hardest and getting the biggest pop. Anjo rage-quits so Takao tags in for more abuse because Riki is not the type of guy to play Ricky Morton. Kenzo tags in and he continues the abuse as the crowd is silent as apparently the hype around Kenzo is all based around his size. Takao has enough and big boots Kenzo in his massive head so Anjo can tag in and kick Kenzo, who sells under protest for ten seconds and then tags in Riki oh my god this match is going absolutely nowhere.
Yoji resorts to choking Riki from behind but Takao doesn’t approve of that. IT’S THE ONLY OFFENSE YOU’VE HAD ALL MATCH. Anjo applies his mildest holds on Riki, the kind you could stick your dog in and it would think it was affection. Riki is worse than HHH circa 2003 for being put in vulnerable positions. Actually wait no, HHH lost to Shelton Benjamin a few times so Riki is worse. Kenzo takes some kicks from Anjo but he’s rotten at selling and comes back with a spear anyway. Kenzo & Riki spike piledrive Anjo and then Kenzo pins him after a running knee at 13:30 of action I’m never getting back.
You watch matches like this and wonder if one of the problems of 2000s Puro was the lack of new stars due to the big stars like Riki not putting anyone over or selling or helping in any way. Choshu couldn’t make anyone look good in a company he owns? Even Tenryu sold for Kitao for fuck’s sake.
Overall
Two tremendously stiff, bitter battles that are well worth a watch if you don’t mind skipping everything else (like most puro fans were doing at the time) unless you want to watch the self-destruction of a company realising it’s problems aren’t easily fixable.
