WAR Wrestle Association-R WARFARE 06/06/97
By Maffew Gregg on 19 January 2025
Wrestle Association-R
Korakuen Hall
Attendance: 2,100
Oh it’s a Battle Station taping, great. Do you enjoy watching wrestling with wrestlers talking about the action and sounding bored out of their mind? You do? Oh boy do we have the show format for you!
Battle Ranger vs. Osamu Tachihikari
Oh I’m glad they did a rematch of this, I was on the edge of my seat last time (reaching for the remote). Tenryu’s gravelly voice is very soothing, as is the lowered crowd volume. Ranger lands an Asai Moonsault because WAR still want him to be the replacement Ultimo Dragon. Which is why he’s wrestling Osamu in the opening match. Cough. Osamu wins with a chokeslam at 8:10 to help him become a star.
Nobukazu Hirai & Takashi Okamura vs. Arashi & Tomohiro Ishii
These matches are clipped but we thankfully get Arashi’s pyjama gi and mullet trying to knock Ishii over with a leg-sweep. Hirai slams Ishii in Arashi’s corner and demands he tag in, but Ishii simply stands up and says “no”. Hirai no-sells Ishii which makes sense given he’s more experienced at this point, but is also hilarious in hindsight. Arashi holds Okamura so Ishii can strike him and Arashi is moving slower than Abdullah. Hirai slaps Ishii hard because even crap veterans are still veterans I guess.
Okamura then awkwardly KO’s Ishii for real with a high kick, requiring Okamura to kick out of his own pin. Arashi runs in to try to save this but the ref is unable to move Ishii so he stops the match. Jesus, it’s a good job concussions weren’t invented until 2007.
We cut ahead to Ishii being given the smelling salts and recovering enough to take a side suplex and kick out despite being visibly loopy. Okamura is at least gentle with his kicks to the chest, but Hirai still thinks he’s Riki fucking Choshu and lands a high lariat on Ishii. Ishii keeps kicking out and Hirai keeps dropping him on his head until a sheer-drop Brainbuster and WAR Special finally puts Ishii away at 15:24.
Hard match to rate and even harder to watch given what we know now. Crowd at least appreciated Ishii’s FIGHTING SPIRIT and not being dead but you’ll just hate Hirai even more if you watch this.
Lance Storm vs. Masaaki Mochizuki
Oh this could be nice. Feeling out process ends with Mochizuki turning a suplex into a Kimura. That’s such a great spot. Lance works from underneath until a stunner of all things sets up the crappy handspring, which Mochizuki doesn’t bother selling and sends Lance outside instead. Lance comes back with an Asai Crossbody and no-one reacts. I like watching wrestlers when they’re still figuring out what works and what doesn’t.
Lance gets the Rolling Single Crab to no pop because screw these fans. Lance gets a back grapple but waits until Mochizuki tries to counter and spins him into a Northern Lights because he’s so pretty. Lance ducks a springboard which Mochizuki seems to mess up but then turns into a roll and takes out Lance in a nice game of reactions. Mochizuki turns a powerbombs into a Sunset Flip for two as both men are pressing the pin falls now. Lance lands a ginormous German that threatens to kill Mochizuki before he turns at the last second. Mochizuki is a real life real time event. Triple Powerbomb can’t put away Mochizuki but at least the crowd are reacting better now. Lance sits out on a massive Liger Bomb to end a solid encounter at 9:01.
This was perfectly decent wrestling from two lads who deserved a warmer crowd.
Koji Kitao & Abdullah the Butcher vs. Koki Kitahara & Atsushi Kikuchi
Kitao and Abdullah teaming together is someone’s idea of a sick joke. Their tights are both up to their tits so at least they’re coordinated.
Kitahara gets a few kicks in before Kikuchi runs right into Kitao’s clumsy clothesline. Abby hams it up with the eye gouging and throat thrusts while the ref does his best to ignore it all. Kitao tags in to bounce Kikuchi around until Kitahara tries to save but gets thrown into the chairs instead. This is remarkably dull. Either Kitao is striking Kikuchi or Abby’s throwing Kitahara into chairs. Kikuchi ends up with red on him so at least there’s heat when he tags in Kitahara who somehow Monkey Flips Abby. Kitao back sentons poor Kikuchi and delivers the Fire Thunder Piledriver at 13:42 to end a really boring match that should have been a squash that lasted half that time.
International Junior Title
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Yuji Yasuraoka
You may think Yuji getting a title shot against Liger is a lot for a guy like him. HOWEVER! The WCW freaks amongst you will know that a few weeks ago he wrestled Rey Mysterio Jr. at Slamboree 1996.
He didn’t beat him but fucking hell, how did Yuji get that opportunity? It wasn’t like there was a lack of cruiserweights in WCW during this period.
Liger’s the current J-Crown Champ ever since beating Ultimo for it in January back when he was Mr. Ten Belts. Only the WAR title is on the line tonight.
Yuji starts off and is one fired up mullet, punching Liger in the corner and not allowing the master to get anything on him. That lasts ten seconds before Liger locks him in a Camel Clutch, displaying his anger with a simple twist of his head.
We clip to Liger smacking Yuji daft with a Tree Of Woe before strutting to the crowd’s boos.
Liger palm strikes Yuji in the corner to vigorous applause and keeps the violence coming with beautiful Brainbusters. The sheer snap Liger gets on his moves is something to behold. A smug, aggressive powerbomb can’t put Yuji away but the crowd are REALLY getting behind the mullet as he’s getting turned into mince beef. Yuji is able to slip out of another powerbomb to kick Liger in the horn, allowing the youngster to land the High Ass Crossbody to the outside.
We clip ahead to Liger ignoring that to dump Yuji with a rough German Suplex as the crowd BOOS Liger. Wow. So Liger does the cut-throat taunt and sticks him with the Top Rope Brainbuster…which Yuji kicks out of. Liger’s “huh?” reaction and mouthing off at the ref sell the moment. Yuji is somehow able to come back and land the best double-jump dropkick of his career to the back of Liger’s head, getting a dangerously close German Suplex pin for two. Yuji then spikes Liger into the mat with a Double Arm DDT with Liger not moving after the move, so Yuji has to move him into position to indeed, get the win and the title from the legendary legend at 22:42
Crowd react with a mix of happiness and shock.
This looked far and away the best thing on the show so naturally it was trimmed to only the best bits. Given how ropey Yuji has been in previous encounters maybe it was for the best. Credit where it’s due though and fair play to him being able to get such a passionate response from the crowd on a show where no-one else has been able to so far.
Liger would keep defending the now slightly-less powerful J-Crown until losing it to El Samurai a month after this. Yuji would retire in 1999. Every dog has his day.
Super Handicap Match
Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya & Masatomo Takei (company president, Tenryu’s brother in law) vs. Tarzan Goto & Ryo Miyake
LOL at this being a “Super Handicap match” to make it sound exciting. Yeah this ain’t YOUR DAD’S HANDICAP MATCH.
Takei takes a chairshot entering the ring (while wearing his full suit) to sell before the match begins. Goto lobs loads of chairs at Tenryu’s perm while brawling on the outside as Tenryu gives us his thoughts on himself. I hope he sounds like the Arnold commentary for Total Recall where he just describes what’s on the screen. Goto lariats Tenryu down so Ryo tries it, with Tenryu reminding the buffoon of the hierarchy by hitting him. Tenryu knocks Takei off the apron for some reason (I think he was trying to keep him out of the match for his protection) before flubbing a low dropkick because Ryo dropped too soon, so Tenryu has a hissy-fit all over his head.
In the studio, Tenryu laughs at himself. Goto squishes Tenryu with a top-rope splash. Araya finally re-emerges on the apron after being attacked during the start so Tenryu bitch-slaps Ryo and mild tags in the orange-tighted one. Goto doesn’t want any of him so he tries to attack Takei at ringside with Tenryu using his body to protect him from chair shots. With Tenryu out, Goto headbutts Araya who sells until Ryo tags in and then he stops selling. Man, Ryo sucks. Goto has enough of subtly and chair-shots Araya a few times. This match is dragging. Goto’s technically being a good heel but when he’s not getting crowd heat he’s simply decent. Araya takes Ryo’s rubbish offence until Tenryu finally tags in to run down Ryo with his trademark offence. Goto hates this and takes Tenryu outside where he has the brawling advantage, forgetting he’s dealing with MR. WRESTLING who buries Goto in chairs. This allows Araya to moonsault Ryo at 12:27 and make us all wonder what was the point of all this was then?
Oh, Miyake is instantly attacked by an angry Goto so Tenryu has to stab Goto in the arm with a spike to save him as THIS FEUD MUST CONTINUE because WAR has nothing else right now.
Overall: Yuji’s moment in the sun is worth a watch even in it’s heavily clipped presentation, as is Lance Storm’s match. The rest? Well, WAR’s best feature used to be how interesting and weird the shows were compared to everybody else. Now they’re like everyone else but way duller.
