Tokyo Pro Wrestling – Super Battle Legend Of Golden Strong Fighter 06/24/96 & 06/29/96
By Maffew Gregg on 8 September 2024
Tokyo Pro Wrestling
Korakuen Hall
Attendance 1,750
06/24/96
Hiroshi Itakura vs. Akihito Masuda
Highlights only but the match-ending German Suplex was a real nail-biter.
Billy Black vs. Masanobu Kurisu
Kurisu relegated to the Highlights Only section? Huh. Him and former AJPW prospect Billy throw chairs at one another to get the crowd scared. We clip to Black landing a cumbersome moonsault and knocking all the wind out of Kurisu for the victory at 11:57. Meltzer loved Billy but it was hard to see why.
Gekko & Kageboshi vs. Shocker & Astro Jr.
JIP to Astro Jr. landing an awful Lionsault to a standing Kageboshi to smatterings of laughter. Puro companies love including moments they could have easily cut out. Both lads miss moves off the top rope as the crowd is completely dead for this. Astro’s offence isn’t silky smooth and Japanese crowds seem to get really hung up on that when it comes to Lucha. Not to be out-done, Gekko nearly misses a standing moonsault for minimal reaction. The luchadores get the crowd invested by accidentally landing on one another. Astro smashes Gekko daft with a massive Splash Mountain as these lads have finally found their footing. Stereo Frankensteiners off the top gets zero reaction because Kageboshi wasn’t smooth doing it. The crowd are tough critics considering they’ve paid money to watch Ishikawa pretend to be a headliner.
Gekko Asai Moonsaults into Astro Jr. on the outside but makes more contact with the chairs than his opponents. Even destroying his ankles doesn’t get a pop. Everyone looks flustered as they try and land moves as quickly as possible due to the Bobby Fish crowd reaction they’re receiving. Shocker delivers a top rope Pump Handle Slam but there’s still nothing. The Lucha lads try an elevated armdrag off the top however that also ends up sloppy and oh my God this match is going nowhere. Gekko gets mad, thinks “sod it” and kicks Shocker in the face to set up his Tompachi hold to finally end it at 20:34, with frustration evident on everyone involved in the aftermath.
A fascinating match for all the wrong reasons as the crowd gave them absolute zero and it only made them try harder to continue to dig the hole they found themselves in bigger and bigger. Big Ooofs and second hand embarrassment for everyone involved in this.
The Great Kabuki vs. Shigeo Okumura
Kabuki tries to sucker punch Okumura who responds by immediately gigging him with the timekeeper’s hammer. Okumura also hits the ref with it but he’s very understanding and keeps the match going. And by “match” I mean “Okumura chinlocks Kabuki so he can force the blood out of his forehead because it’s his best move.” Kabuki has a rest after a minute of action to land some thrust kicks before getting the last train back to Chinlock & Armbar Land. As respected as Kabuki is, he’s also getting zero reaction tonight. Did they announce over the P.A. in between matches that a dog had been ran over in the Korakuen Hall car park? Tokyo crowds are rarely this dead. Kabuki slowly works this guy over as TPW continue to burn tape on this. Imagine the amount of Dr. Who serials that were lost so shite like this could be preserved forever. Okumura misses a moonsault so Kabuki lariats him at 14:33. Felt five times longer.
Black Wazuma vs. Daikokubo Benkei
Black Wazuma is Too Cold Scorpio in a mask and covered in meccano.
I don’t know why he was doing this gimmick. TPW also had Orihara rebranded as Gekko so maybe it was like when Apocalypse renamed Angel as Archangel. Scorp lets the ref check him for foreign objects as he dances:
Crowd are instantly into Wazuma and sound alive for the first time in hours. Benkei’s disgusted looks are helping sell it. Wazuma gets pushed over but he kips back up and dances. A clearly jealous Benkei retaliates with sumo strikes into the corner and a big lariat to turn Wazuma inside out. Doesn’t bother him as he’s been inside out plenty of times through airport security. Benkei absorbs a flying kick, pauses and then falls over but no-one minds as he takes a beautiful moonsault from Wazuma. Benkei takes over to slow this one down some more as Kabuki watches on. Wazuma is thankfully willing to work around Benkei’s strengths, shame the only offence he knows is axe handles and bearhugs. Wazuma attempts to slam him but HE’S TOO FAT so he squishes 2 Small Scorpio. This formula is working to get the crowd into it and they pop tremendously for the match-winning 450 Splash at 9:58.
Crowd adored Scorpio’s athleticism and dancing, with Benkei doing what he needed to do to not get in the way so this was very solid stuff and easily the best thing on this tape so far. Well done Scorp.
Sabu vs. Abdullah The Butcher
Sabu had finished with BJPW two weeks before this so Tokyo Pro becomes his Japanese promotion of choice when he wasn’t losing to RVD at Viking Hall.
Sabu stabs Abby as he’s heading inside, leading to the big man wobbling half-in and half-out the ring ropes like Big Show stuck in the bus toilet in Knucklehead. Abby is of course bleeding thanks to Sabu’s spike. Sabu drags Abby into the fans as they are going wild for the violence, their grins visible on camera.
They haven’t got the hang of his name yet so we get “SA-BU-UH” chants as both men brawl and bleed through the crowd. Eventually both men are counted out with an angry job-refusing Sabu triple jumping onto…nothing on the outside, in a brutal moment.
Abby gets his revenge by stabbing Sabu and dragging him through the crowd until wrestlers empty from the back to stop it. Sabu throws powder at Abby so he can resume milking the blood out of his forehead until Kabuki mists Sabu before Ishikawa saves the day with a chair. Given his age I was surprised it wasn’t the chair Frasier’s dad sits on.
This was nothing as a match but the crowd loved every second of the violence and run-ins so there. I feel like Pauline Kael reviewing The Flash.
Takashi Ishikawa & Kishin Kawabata vs. Shin FMW (Tarzan Goto & Mr. Gannosuke)
How is Kawabata in the main event? Oh right, we need someone to take the pin. Him and Gannosuke go through the motions until Goto tags in to nearly rip his arm out of his socket in a mis-timed armbar takedown. Goto throws Kawabata into Ishikawa’s corner and demand he tag in which gets a healthy “oooOoooo” from the crowd. Both big lads start off fast and strong, bouncing off one another and delivering hard, hard lariats. Gannosuke tries the same but Ishikawa’s like OH NO YOU DON’T and has broken-armed Kawabata take him out instead. Spike piledriver flattens Gannosuke who is also bleeding from Ishikawa’s chair-shots. He’s able to bloodily tag in Goto who is absolutely raging & full of energy as he breaks a chair over Kawabata. Motivated Goto is a lot of fun, like when the camera catches him grinning like a wrong ‘un as Kawabata starts to bleed. Kawabata screams and tries to headbutt Goto, apparently unaware that’s Goto’s trademark move so he gets dumped outside instead as Goto continues to make soup out of whatever pops out of his head. Kawabata finally tags out to the boss who takes apart Gannosuke while staring directly at Goto on the apron. I love that spot. Goto naturally wanders in to hit Ishikawa who simply continues to stare a hole in him until the ref tells him to go away. Hell yeah. Goto instead pounds away on Kawabata, bending a chair over his back before landing a Brainbuster on the wrecked chair as Ishikawa is unable to head inside due to Gannosuke holding him.
Hey this was pretty good! Ishikawa and Goto had lovely chemistry together, with Goto being especially energetic like he always is when he’s in the main event and being told he’s great every two minutes. All hail Praise Kink Goto.
Post-show Abby & Kabuki & Benkei form an alliance. Yeah, called Limited ltd.
06/29/96
Tokyo Pro Wrestling
Sapporo Teisen Hall
Attendance 1,750
Shigeo Okumura vs. Kishin Kawabata
Highlights only. These guys are stuck doing another thirty minute draw. Both are dripping in sweat by the end and the crowd are polite and that’s all I’ve got to say about it.
Billy Black & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Masanobu Kurisu & Masashi Aoyagi
Highlights only, but they consist of some hard-arse strikes courtesy of Aoyagi & Kurisu. And then Billy rolls Aoyagi up in a small package for a exasperated reaction from the crowd because everyone loves the funny old serial killer man.
The Great Kabuki & Akihito Masuda vs. Shin FMW (Tarzan Goto & Mr. Gannosuke)
Highlights only with Goto and Kabuki’s reactions going down very well in this little hall. Masuda is the black-tights-wearing-no-name that tries to slap Goto around and loses his skin in the process before taking a Brainbuster at 14:17. Kabuki somehow bled from nothing. Maybe he sneezed.
Sabu vs. Black Wazuma
Both men get a chance to speak backstage before the match. Scorpio uses every cliché under the sun. Sabu points.
Sabu manages to grab Wazuma in one of his opening leg dives which would occur less and less frequently as time would go on. Crowd are quiet in the early part of the match as they’re waiting for Sabu to be Sabu. Which he starts doing with his springboard crossbody setting up a Double Jump Crossbody with some serious air.
Air Sabu gets two in the corner but Wazuma starts his comeback with a big ass powerbomb. I love how undignified Scorpio’s powerbombs looked, always slamming his opponents with disdain. Sabu comes back with an Arabian Moonsault as the crowd love Sabu now he’s flying around. Sabu attempts his rebound clothesline too many times so Wazuma is able to superkick him to set up an over-the-ropes flipping splash. Like Hangman Page’s Buckshot Lariat but into a splash. Wazuma keeps the pressure on with a lariat but Sabu retaliates with more FLYING STUFF. A clearly jealous Wazuma sends Sabu off the apron with a handspring Pele and follows with a massive moonsault off the apron.
OK, now Sabu is jealous of Scorpio’s agility and surges onto him using a ringside table. This has been spot-spot-spot with no flow but I’m not against that when the spots are done well. Sabu crotches Wazuma to land a Double Jump Frankensteiner to really please the crowd. You can hear them muttering afterwards “did you see that??” Crowd now actively wants Sabu to win after he’s earned their love but the crowd are still happy when Wazuma lands a flipping Sunset Flip off the second rope for two.
Triple Jump Moonsault misses so Wazuma manages a massive splash off the top rope for two and a giant arsed leg drop can’t put him away. Sabu attempts the Double Jump Frankensteiner again with Wazuma simply shoving him off onto the hard gym mats outside. Scorpio tries to follow with a tope but Sabu casually side-steps to stick to him, which allows Sabu to set up a table at ringside and…crash onto it as Scorpio side-steps THAT. Wazuma kicks Sabu into the crowd as there’s some LOUD women screaming for Sabu. Scorpio attempts to enter the ring but Sabu kicks him off the apron for the abrupt count-out victory for Sabu at 17:31 and ohhh boy are the crowd not happy about that. They were outside for five minutes!
Opinions will greatly vary because Scorpio and Sabu were both guilty of having matches that turned into you-do-a-move-then-i-do-a-move with absolutely nothing in between the spots. While this is true, the fact they’re getting crazy responses from the crowd helps me ignore the lack of cohesiveness and also because I loved Sabu as a kid and being an adult wrestling fan is just being stuck in a state of arrested development I can appreciate his commitment to giving it his all every match. Scorpio insists on giving the same amount of effort whether it be in the ring or stabbing people in 2024.
Post-match a mad, mad Wazuma lands a 450 Splash on Sabu to appease the fans before sodding off.
2/3 Falls TWA World Tag Titles
Takashi Ishikawa & Yoji Anjo vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Daikokobu Benkei
Really big pops for everyone involved in this. Apart from Ishikawa, the owner and alleged biggest star of the company. He’s the Mike Graham to Riki Choshu’s Eddie.
Benkei starts off the match and is big & bad for a few minutes to kill some time. Ishikawa takes some avalanches as Abby helps by shoving his team-mate into the corner. Anjo and Abby finally tag in as they mock one another with their flailing martial arts poses as the crowd goes wild. Abby headbutts Anjo and he’s happy to ham it up as Abby tries to eat him.
We clip ahead to Ishikawa backdropping Benkei who laughs it off and recovers before Ishikawa, who decides to charge up a lariat, which is halted by Abby on the apron to allow Benkei to slam Ishikawa at 6:40 for the first fall. Crowd sound shocked that Benkei of all people managed to get a pin-fall on the owner.
We clip ahead as Anjo decides to work on Abby’s massive legs, which he sells by bleeding from the forehead. The pain travels. Ishikawa launces a table at Abby so he can wander near the crowd and cause them to get worried he’s going to crush and/or bleed on them.
Ishikawa impressively monkey flips Abby (!) but it still only gets two so he slams Abby for good measure (!!) and follows with a series of leg drops as they’re usually good for disposing of evil foreigners. Abby takes the pin-fall at 15:08 after Anjo kicks Abby at the same time Ishikawa crossbodies him. I dunno, I think the slam or flip looked more impressive.
Ref has to check Abby can even stand up after all the blood he’s lost (and bumps he’s taken) so a very groggy Abby holds the ropes before waiting for Ishikawa to come near him…to reveal he’s perfectly fine and smashes a chair into him. Crowd bought that and so did I. Benkei splashes a chair onto Ishikawa’s leg on the outside while Anjo eventually shows up to help. Ishikawa gets dragged into the ring and does a pretty sweet job of selling the hell out of his leg and gets the crowd chanting his name for the first time since I’ve been watching these shows. Ishikawa takes a table dropping on him and a dozen splashes before the ref calls it off at 19:50 for new champions. Crowd isn’t in favour of that finish and neither is Anjo (who did nothing to help during the entire last fall).
Match was at least acceptable and the crowd are finally into Ishikawa so there’s hope for the long run I guess (spoilers: no there wasn’t).
Post-match both Ishikawa and Anjo give Onita-style speeches as the very receptive crowd surround the ring and pound the mat to make this seem more important than it is.
Backstage, Great Kabuki asks Abby if he’s happy with his “very expensive belt” but Abby tells him “no, cos I want to beat someone up.” Kabuki laughs evilly as we fade to black.
Overall: Another tape that ended up more interesting than good, but at least we got some fine Scorpio matches out of it. So if you like that or flustered luchadores and even Abby putting in a shift then go find this in the back pages of old copies of WON.