World Japan – MAGMA03 PPV 07/20/03
By Maffew Gregg on 16 June 2024
World Japan
Sumo Hall
Attendance: 8,500
WJ runs their biggest show to date with a one night tournament to crown a champ with a ton of stars booked so…good times right? Well except this is following four consecutive big shows in the Tokyo area:
WWE in Yokohama Arena in 7/17 & 7/18, All Japan at the Budokan on 7/19, and NJPW are doing a PPV from Sapporo on 7/21.
So an attendance of “8,500” is incredibly wishful thinking.
WJ Strongest Tournament Quarterfinal Match
Steve Williams vs. Shiro Koshinaka
Shiro attacks the once-mighty Dr. Death to fire off THE ASS early. Thirty seconds in and Steve is selling like he’s thirty minutes deep. The match slows down so quickly that the commentators start talking about the rest of the card. On a PPV. Williams ends another chop session with a punch to the mouth but Williams is so out of it that Shiro comes back with a dropkick because he’s able to stand up first. Shiro does his best to make it easy for Steve by putting himself into easy positions but this is sad to watch. Williams busts out his little stompy taunt to zero reaction before Shiro oversells a gentle lariat by heading outside. Steve lands his best attempt at a Moxley tope in response. Shiro shoves Steve into a cameraman before landing THE ASS off the apron. A follow-up THE ASS off the top gets a near-fall as we get a third chop session. Steve kicks out of a Superplex and sees a running THE ASS heading his way so converts into a backdrop suplex to get the crowd excited. Shiro counters an Oklahoma Stampede into a roll-up as both lads kick out of half a dozen lariats with Williams somehow managing The Doctor Bomb to advance at 9:27.
First half of this match was finding out your Grandma does porn, second half was finding out your Dad films it.
WJ Strongest Tournament Quarterfinal Match
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Riki Choshu
Hell of a quarterfinal.
Long feeling out process as Sasaki checks if Choshu is carrying the money he owes him. Sasaki plants those giant chops all over Riki until Choshu simply scoops Sasaki out of the ring with a slam. Sasaki doesn’t care and chops Riki some more before yelling at him to “man up”. Riki kicks out at one and counters a Patera charge with a punch to the jaw so I think he heard him. Riki keeps Sasaki at bay by striking him whenever he revs up the lariat. Sharpshooter locked in as Sasaki is doing an admirable job of selling everything Riki is capable of doing to him in this advanced state, and the crowd is eating it up. Effortless-looking Superplex gets a near fall for Riki, with both men landing lariats at the same time. Sasaki is bigger so he absorbs it better but only just. Riki is practically breaking his arm over Sasaki who barely stumbles but his face is writhing in agony. Riki takes a lariat and looks shaky but kicks out at one because HE’S RIKI CHOSHU. Sasaki lands the Snow Plow and Riki kicks out at one again because HE’S STILL RIKI CHOSHU. A second shuts him up at 12:59 with Riki still attempting to kick out at 3.1 but his body had nothing left.
This was brilliant once they’d warmed up, with Sasaki doing an amazing job of making Riki appear to be the Riki of old with the crowd biting on every one of his disrespectful kick outs. Recommended watch, like everything else involving Sasaki in the 2000s.
WJ Strongest Tournament Quarterfinal Match
Kenzo Suzuki vs. Dan Bobish
Kenzo is taller than Dan but that doesn’t stop him taking some terrific uppercuts from the mass of man meat. Dan effortlessly Torture Racks Kenzo as I wonder why Dan didn’t go further in wrestling. Kenzo bounces off Dan’s offence like he’s on the moon as Dan yells “YEAH C’MON BOY”. Kenzo gets lariated over the guard-rail and stays face-down until the count reaches fifteen and he somehow manages to get back in the ring. Bret Hart wished he could have made Tom Magee look half this good. Kenzo easily spears and slams Dan before getting a fluke roll-up with one of Bobish’s shoulders clearly up at 5:15.
It was good while it lasted but you knew a wacky finish was coming when two lads the company wanted to push were booked to wrestle one another. Bobish looked beautiful.
WJ Strongest Tournament Quarterfinal Match
Takao Omori vs. Genichiro Tenryu
Their only singles match.
Tenryu takes a shoulderblock but is upset at how soft it is. Omori knocks him down with another so Tenryu chops him very hard to the crowd’s delight. Chops and uppercuts are exchanged with Tenryu attempting to strip paint with his. Tenryu is not playing around with his strikes tonight, especially when he kicks Omori directly in the face before landing a tope (after getting a thumbs up from the crowd). The front row fans literally fan Omori which helps him land the Axe Guillotine Driver on the outside mats. It’s treated as a big deal by the crowd but then he rolls Tenryu in and gets a one-count. Oof. Omori’s offence gets no respect from the crowd, even after an extended sleeper and piledriver the crowd don’t believe he has Tenryu at a disadvantage because Mr. Wrestling is so fired up tonight. Tenryu’s just sleeping until he decides to wake up. Sure enough, Tenryu sets his alarm and starts chopping and armbarring. Two 53 Years Olds are kicked out of, causing Omori to OMORI UP and lock in a Guillotine that Tenryu is barely able to escape out of. While out on his feet, Omori is able to blast Tenryu with two lariats for the unremarkable pin at 15:14
This was good not great, as Omori didn’t have the aggressiveness to take this to a higher level. Tenryu is so overpowering as a wrestler & personality that there’s always the risk of him eating people up if they’re not going as hard as him. You’d think Omori would be able to run at the same speed but the crowd dsagreed.
Masahiko Kochi vs. Takashi Uwano
You think showing the opener half-way through the show is going to trick me into watching it? Ha! German Suplex wins for one of them at 15:05.
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Ichiro Yaguchi
Ichiro making it onto big shows in a non-death match capacity is staggering to me. I don’t mind a guy having a limited move-set and having to stick to things like chops and chokes, but only if the crowd is into it. Here, the crowd is not into it. Both lads trade headbutts before Ishii removes Ichiro’s facepaint with a giant dropkick in the corner. Ishii is wonderfully impressive as he suplexes Ichiro around the place with Ichiro responding with a well-timed spinning wheel kick so Ishii can show off his selling too. Crowd are really into Ishii because he’s so full of energy and he’s singlehandedly making something out of nothing. Ishii absorbs some shots before very nearly messing up a suplex and converting it into a smooth brainbuster to end at 11:18
Not as bad as you’d think considering Ichiro only got heat when he patted his dick, thanks to Ishii literally carrying the match.
WJ Strongest Tournament Semifinal Match
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Steve Williams
Another only-time match. Hard to not wonder about what could have been.
Both lads trade lariats until Sasaki effortlessly slams Steve off a charge. Sasaki follows that up with a Northern Lights Suplex because he’s using this match to show off. Steve does everything he can to slow this down with STFs but he’s so broken down I’m half-expecting the Fat Controller to wall him up in a tunnel. Sasaki kicks out at one and Steve does the animated “i can’t believe he did that!” response but the crowd doesn’t react because they absolutely believe he did that. Sasaki at least is working to Steve’s level and doing all the work, really evident when Steve can’t get up for a suplex leading to Sasaki pausing before shoot launching him out of respect. Steve works over Sasaki until he falls into a dropkick, causing Sasaki to kinda-roll Steve into a forward Judo throw. The awkwardness of that exchange causes Sasaki to realise this has gone on long enough. After taking a German Suplex from Steve, Sasaki blocks a spinning clothesline with a lariat before synching in a Strangle Hold for the tap out at 12:17.
Sasaki wrestling himself is rarely bad and this was no exception once you’d gotten over the fact Steve was so depleted in 2003. After this show Williams would head to IWA Japan for the rest of his Japanese career. Harsh but fair.
WJ Strongest Tournament Semifinal Match
Kenzo Suzuki vs. Takao Omori
Strikes are traded immediately until Kenzo messes up a powerbomb. Both start landing lariats and high knees as I assume we’re not going long. Suzuki converts a lariat into a roll-up which doesn’t look smooth or flukey because he over-rotated Omori and had to lock another one in immediately afterwards for the awful pin at 3:39.
Barely a match that did nothing for either guy.
Big Vader (Big Van Vader) vs. Don Frye
Vader removes the mask immediately because he knows this is going to be stiff, yes yes YES.
Frye takes Vader down and attempts to lock in the armbar with Vader needing to reach the ropes. Frye deals with this by applying a standing armbar but Vader still reaches the ropes. Vader complains to the ref about Frye not releasing after he grabbed the ropes. I appreciate moments that build up someone’s threat level with something as basic as a standing armbar being potentially fatal. Vader belly-to-bellies Frye which allows him to stick some lovely elbows to the face. Frye absorbs them so he can lock in a Dragon Sleeper with Vader howling in pain. Vader responds with shots but as soon as he lands an elbow to a downed Frye, The Don is able to take the pain and grab a hold. This has been lovely so far. Vader has the advantage on the feet and blasts Don into the wind with a lariat. Vader lands a German Suplex that’s barely held together to continue the rough shoot-style feeling they’re going for, with Frye somehow giving Vader one of his own. Frye starts punching Vader as the crowd holds their breath as Vader collapses from THE SHOTS THAT BRUISED TAKAYAMA. Frye continues pounding Vader’s face into parfait with the ref continuing to warn Don for striking while Vader’s in the ropes. Don lands some elbow drops which are the only thing he does that don’t look effective. Vader retaliates with strikes and manages to deliver the Vader Bomb but Don grabs the ropes in a good FUCK YOU moment. Don somehow lands another inexplicable German as Vader unsubtly yells at Don to “cover him.” Don drops an elbow that may or may not have been to the groin and despite a warning from the ref, he immediately does it again for the BIG GUY SCREWJOB FINISH DQ at 11:27.
Crowd loathes the finish (as they should) but it couldn’t detract from an otherwise superb shoot style encounter between two of the biggest yanks to do it. I’m always happy seeing Vader look competent post-2000, and Don was able to take everything Vader was throwing and give it right back at him.
Don Frye, who is scheduled to return for a 7/20 match at Sumo Hall with Vader, is still going through with the match even though he has severe neck damage. Frye had already had his C-5, C-6 and C-7 vertebrae fused. In the many stories regarding Edge, Kurt Angle and Steve Austin and their neck injuries, the WWE’s leading neck specialist, Dr. Lloyd Youngblood has told wrestlers if they have more than two vertebrae fused, they should give up wrestling. Well, Frye not only didn’t give up wrestling, but he continued fighting. Apparently he re-injured his neck more than a year ago in the final training for his match with Ken Shamrock. He was in far more pain than anyone realized when training for the recent Mark Coleman match. This past week, with his neck bothering him badly, he had an X-ray done which showed that his C-2, C-3 and C-4 vertebrae are all collapsing and he needs fusion surgery on all three, which would make five in all. He’s planning on getting it done after the Vader match, but realizes he’s taking a major risk going into the match. He still has one match left on his Pride contract, which expires in ten months, and even though it seems to be a huge risk, he is planning on doing one last fight after the neck fusion surgery
Frye was out here delivering German suplexes with a broken vertebrae? JESUS. Yeah give this a watch.
Following this show, WJ would announce Vader suffered a leg injury during this match which was reported as bullshit by WON, simply a cover-up for the company to stop booking him due to his high cost. I dunno, checking cagematch reveals Vader wouldn’t wrestle for another six months (returning for HUSTLE’s first show in January 2004) so maybe there was some truth there.
Oh but also! Apparently Vader broke an “expensive table” backstage to burn a bridge and I’m begging for more detail on what makes a table expensive. Maybe because Riki bought it for his daughter like the rest of the WJ funds?
WJ Strongest Tournament Final, WMG Heavyweight Title Decision Match
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Kenzo Suzuki
I’m not exactly enthralled with the idea of this match given Suzuki’s general awkwardness but Sasaki is running on God Mode in 2003 so you never know.
Suzuki is able to get the early advantage with high knees as I guess the story of the match is that he’s had it way easier on his way to the finals compared to Sasaki. However Suzuki looks paggered after two minutes so that doesn’t work. Also if you cast Suzuki as someone with a varied skill-set he’d be miscast. Sasaki is doing his best to put over stuff like chinlocks and surfboards but the crowd isn’t buying any of his Smackdown 2004 offence. Just as I’m about to write off Suzuki, the match changes.
Sasaki and Suzuki go chop-for-chop-for-chop with neither conceding an inch with the camera focusing on their warm chests. Suzuki has massive pecs which certainly helps and he somehow manages to weather the storm and knock down Sasaki, years before the Kobashi encounter. Sasaki sells the beating by locking in a desperate guillotine while he waits for his chest to cool down. Sasaki’s lariat is halted by a big boot and a High Knee gets the crowd worried. Suzuki loads up another but Sasaki TWATS him away with an anti-air lariat. However Suzuki mans up and ignores it to run right into a low knee, followed by Suzuki attempting to no-sell that and run into another one. Hey this got good quick. Sasaki sees a Double Knee coming his way to so he casually catches him and powerbombs him. Oh wow. Suzuki keeps on getting up no matter how many times Sasaki throws a lariat his way. Which is lots. Crowd are popping for Suzuki simply standing up now, with Suzuki finally yelling at Sasaki to finish him with a final lariat giving Sasaki the pin and the title at 18:04.
Oh my god what a turnaround performance from both men. Sasaki spent the entire first half warming up but when both of them started firing every mortar they had in their arsenal this brought something out of Suzuki I didn’t think he was capable of. Tremendous meaty match here that very nearly elevated Suzuki to the level the company wanted him at. Watch here.
Overall
There was a lot of great action here along with a receptive crowd so I’d easily call this the high-point of the promotion, with things looking genuinely up for them (if you don’t look at the attendance figures). The Observer hated it and explained the fans didn’t like the big stars losing in the first round but 2003 absolutely needed new stars with Choshu/Tenryu being damaged goods so I don’t know what they’re going on about. Sasaki is almost guaranteed greatness so it’s not The King of The Ring 2000 levels of disappointment as others have proclaimed it. Or maybe I’m being optimistic because their other shows have been so much worse by comparison.
Yeah well that lovely new title would be defended exactly once, and Suzuki doesn’t last much longer after this so fuck you and your optimism.
