Mike Reviews NJPW Best of the Super Junior 1997

Happy Strong-Style Friday Everyone!

We’ve got some more stuff courtesy of New Japan World for you all today, as we have a look at four matches from the Best of the Super Junior tour in 1997. Best of the Super Junior is essentially a G1 Climax for the Junior Heavyweights, where the wrestlers fight through a Round Robin stage and then finally the top two meet in the Championship match. Sadly we haven’t got the whole tournament as NJW has only uploaded these bouts from the tour, but it should give us a flavour of the whole thing at least.

We’ve got two matches from the 25th of May 1997 and then two matches from the 5th of June 1997, so lets have a look at what the New Japan archives have for us!

25th May 1997
El Samurai Vs Chris Jericho

Samurai is a masked grappler who could sometimes have great matches if he could be bothered to do so. Jericho had got a solid push in the WAR promotion before heading to WCW in 1996, and he was working in New Japan here due to the NJPW and WCW offices having a working relationship. They do some good stuff on the mat to start, with Jericho eventually introducing some strikes into proceedings. Jericho looks to be going more for his loudmouthed Heel character here instead of his smiley babyface one, which is a marked improvement on what he was doing in WCW at the time. Samurai gets caught in the Liontamer at one stage, but he’s near to the ropes and that means he is able to survive.

Most of the big moves have come from Jericho here, with Samurai mostly focusing on doing holds and being a tackle dummy for Jericho. It’s been a decent Jericho showcase actually, with him coming across as a star in this and someone that the other Junior Heavyweights will need to be wary of. Jericho ends up missing a dive of some kind though, which may have been intentional or it could have been a botch. Samurai immediately follows up with a TOPE SUICIDA, so either it was the plan or they just covered for it really well. Samurai gets to hit some of his moves following that, with the two putting together an exciting closing stretch to the bout that the crowd gets into. Both wrestlers end up taking a tumble from the tope rope to the floor at one stage, which causes a collective gasp amongst the fans, and then they promptly head up top again so that Jericho can bust out a Super Rana for the three count.

WINNER: CHRIS JERICHO
RATING: ***3/4

Thoughts: The first ten minutes of this one were mostly focused on Jericho, and he made the focus count by coming across as an effective wrestler with a strong personality and a cool collection of moves in his arsenal. Samurai was eventually able to start strutting his own stuff in the last 5 minutes or so, and he was feeling motivated this time out so they ended up having an enjoyable closing section with some good near falls. Not a classic or anything, but a darn good match that I had fun with, especially once they started breaking out the “heavy artillery” as Gorilla Monsoon would say

25th May 1997
nWo Vs New Japan
nWo Sting, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Hiro Saito Vs Riki Choshu, Kensuke Sasaki and Junji Hirata

New Japan had its own nWo faction at the time, with Masahiro Chono being the leader with Great Muta and Tenzan as his deputies. nWo Sting had previously been one half of the bland Thunder and Lightning tandem in WCW, but he was actually quite entertaining as a fake Sting in New Japan due to the smaller stature of most of the Japanese wrestlers allowing him to wrestle as more of a powerhouse Heel, which he was actually quite good at. Choshu is a wrestler of South Korean heritage who went on to become one of the biggest stars on the whole scene, with Sasaki going on to become his protégé. Hirata had previously been the masked Strong Machine and he’d eventually put the mask back on later in his career.

New Japan had its own nWo faction at the time, with Masahiro Chono being the leader with Great Muta and Tenzan as his deputies. nWo Sting had previously been one half of the bland Thunder and Lightning tandem in WCW, but he was actually quite entertaining as a fake Sting in New Japan due to the smaller stature of most of the Japanese wrestlers allowing him to wrestle as more of a powerhouse Heel, which he was actually quite good at. Choshu is a wrestler of South Korean heritage who went on to become one of the biggest stars on the whole scene, with Sasaki going on to become his protégé. Hirata had previously been the masked Strong Machine and he’d eventually put the mask back on later in his career.

The opening pairings are Tenzan/Choshu, Sting/Hirata and Saito/Sasaki, with all three of them providing some fun fast paced action. Sting looks like a total beast in there with Hirata. It’s amazing how just making him pretend to be Steve Borden made him such a better and more impressive wrestler. It helps that Hirata is good in the ring and knows how to make his foreign foe look impressive. Tenzan and Sasaki get to go at it at one stage, and that would end up as the G1 Climax Final later in the year. The way this is worked allows everyone to come in for a bit, hit some moves and get out, and the result is that the pace never really drops and everyone gets a bit of a showcase without overstaying their welcome.

Sasaki ends up cut off in the nWo corner at one stage, which leads to the nWo team quickly switching off in order to keep Sasaki on the backfoot. Sasaki sells well, and notably doesn’t tag out with he has the chance because he is all fired up and wants to make his own comeback. This allows Sting to clock Sasaki with a baseball bat when the referee is distracted though, which immediately puts Sasaki back on the defensive. It’s also a good reminder that the nWo guys are actually supposed to be the Heels here, even though they have had some cheers at points.

Eventually its hot tag Choshu, and he wastes no time Lariating Saito and locking him in the Scorpion Deathlock. The nWo continues to work like a pack of hyenas though, and that saves Saito from having to submit when they all swarm Choshu. Both teams have chances to win it, but there’s always someone there able to break up the pin or submission at the last moment. However, Sting eventually manages to come off the top with a clothesline onto Hirata during the chaos and that’s enough for the three count.

WINNERS: NWO JAPAN
RATING: ***

Thoughts: This one was good energetic fun. There were a few moments when it got a tad sloppy in the closing stages, but that kind of added to the frenetic feel of the whole bout. There was basically zero resting here, with both teams making quick tags and the pace never really slowing down. It was a good example of why these multi-man tags work so well within the New Japan style of wrestling, as everyone got a chance to do something and the match moved at a pleasing pace throughout

5th June 1997
NJPW Vs nWo Japan
IWGP Heavyweight Title
Champ: Shinya Hashimoto Vs Keiji Muto

Hashimoto regained the Title for New Japan from UWFi wrestler Nobuhiko Takada and he had been defending the honour of the promotion ever since, which of course put him in the sights of the nWo. According to Google; Great Muta had joined nWo Japan in May of 1997, but Muto wouldn’t join under his real name until September. So this was kind of a weird period where Muto had a split personality going on, where one of his personas was part of the main Heel faction whilst another one was actively fighting against that faction. I’m not sure that’s ever happened before in wrestling, but please correct me if it has and I’m just being a big dum-dum.

I quite like the way they put this one together, as it’s mostly mat based with more strikes eventually getting thrown in, especially from Hashimoto who was known for his chops and kicks. It’s fought at a deliberate pace, but it’s presented in a believable way where it looks like the two competitors are trying to out wrestle one another. It won’t be for everyone, but if you like realistic looking matches that build gradually, then you will probably enjoy the way this one is structured. Muto is the first to start getting some of his trademark big moves in when he manages to get his handspring back elbow into a face buster combo.

That just fires up Hashimoto though, and he starts chopping and slapping the fudge out of his opponent, which leads to Muto tenaciously trying to block Hashimoto from getting one of the Champs trademark big moves in the DDT. Muto eventually manages to use a Dragon Screw in order to save himself from getting dropped on his head, and that gives us a Muto Missile Dropkick, as they’re now starting to bust out bigger and bigger moves from their arsenals. The big moves feel “earned” though due to the previous focus on mat wrestling, and the crowd really gets into seeing them, especially when Muto fires off a rana out of the corner at one stage before following up with a Figure Four.

Muto had used the Figure Four to defeat Takada at the Tokyo Dome back in 1995, so it was established as a big submission move that “worked” by this stage, so it’s a good hold to go with for a submission tease, with Hashimoto eventually having to grab the ropes in order to save himself. Muto misses a follow-up Moonsault though, and that leads to Hashimoto getting angrier than he already was (which was very angry indeed!) and throw a series of really brutal kicks. That wears Muto down sufficiently and allows Hashimoto to finally start hitting some of his own moves, including a DDT for two.

The finishing stretch is well done, with Muto fighting for his life in order to avoid getting Brain Busted by the Champion, with the crowd continuing to really be into the contest. Both wrestlers are absolutely drenched in sweat by the time the bout reaches the final stages, which shows the difference between using working holds and rest holds. Ultimately Muto shows why he was so desperate to avoid taking a Brain Buster, as Hashimoto manages to catch Muto with it and that’s all she wrote after close to 25 minutes of hard wrestling from both competitors.

WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: HASHIMOTO
RATING: ****

Thoughts: Very much the classic old school World Heavyweight Title match here, as they focused more on realism and gradually building the contest rather than going for showmanship or throwing bombs right from the opening bell. The result was a match that was quite deliberately paced, but it was also rather gripping if you enjoy that more steady mat based style of wrestling. The last 5 minutes in particular were really good, as they started introducing the bigger moves that they had in their arsenal and the crowd was really into the drama of the near falls and submission teases at the end. They protected the key moves and holds of each wrestler really well, as Hashimoto only survived the Figure Four due to being near the ropes and desperately had to fight the hold off when Muto tried it again. They teased the Brain Buster a few times and once it hit it was game over, which is what you need to do with a finishing move. Again, this might not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed what they did here. It didn’t feel like they were just sitting in holds in the first half of the match, it felt like they were really trying to out wrestle one another and that makes such a huge difference when it comes to making that more technical mat based style interesting

5th June 1997
Best of the Super Junior Final
Koji Kanemoto Vs El Samurai

Kanemoto had previously been the third iteration of Tiger Mask, but he went back to his normal name and had far more success doing that. Despite losing in that Group Stage match to Jericho, Samurai clearly managed to amass enough points in order to get himself into the Final. A big focus is made of how evenly matched the two finalists are in the early going, with both of them trading holds, kicks and slaps, with neither of them really gaining a clear advantage at first. This is an effective way of making them both look like they are worthy finalists by making it clear that each wrestler is a genuine match for the other. Kanemoto eventually gets mad following a Samurai suplex and starts going into jerk mode with leg based holds and kicks, which gives Samurai a chance to sell for a bit.

Anyone who has seen Kanemoto’s work before will know how effective he is in the role of being a violent angry jerk in kick-pads, and he’s very much on form here, with Samurai soon limping around and clearly struggling. Some of the kicks that Kanemoto throws here reverberate through the venue, and even though Samurai has a mask on he is still able to give off “why me?” energy just through his body language. Kanemoto is nice enough to give Samurai some windows to fight back at points, but it always invariably comes back to Kanemoto going back after the leg, with Samurai’s pained yelps and Kanemoto’s stiff kicks being the main soundtrack for the contest.

Kanemoto does do a fantastic sell job for a Samurai clothesline at one stage, but Samurai’s leg is hurting too much for him to immediately follow up, so he instead decides to suplex Kanemoto to the floor and follow with a TOPE SUICIDA, as you do. Kanemoto goes back to the leg following that though, giving us some really good submission teases where Samurai sells the holds big and the crowd almost has kittens thinking that Samurai is going to tap. Kanemoto takes the jerkiness to a different level at one stage, but tying Samurai up in the ropes and just kicking him at will, which leads to Samurai firing back with an elbow strike when he’s finally able to break free.

Samurai finally manages to restore a bit of parity by spiking Kanemoto with some DDT’s before coming off the top with a Diving Headbutt. However, Kanemoto is able to survive that and then starts trying to rip Samurai’s mask off, which is what Jushin Liger did to Samurai back in 1992 when they met in a similar competition, although ironically Liger is at ringside and cheering for Samurai here and is appalled by Kanemoto’s behaviour 5 years on. Samurai’s mask ends up getting totally ripped off and Kanemoto then busts out a huge move with a reverse rana off the top. However, by ripping the mask Kanemoto has really fired up Samurai, and he’s able to survive and keep fighting, as the crowd continues to lose their mind for this.

Samurai splats Kanemoto with two of his trademark Powerbomb’s (known as the “Samurai Bomb”) and then tries to give Kanemoto taste of his own medicine by applying a submission hold, in this case an arm bar. Kanemoto manages to survive that though and then counters another Samurai attempt at a Headbutt by Powerslamming Samurai down and then following with a Moonsault and a Tiger Suplex. That should seemingly be the three count, but Samurai somehow kicks out and now the crowd is liable to start throwing babies in the air as they are that pumped! Kanemoto slaps the ref around and then heads up for another twisty Moonsault, but Samurai dodges it and gets a reverse DDT off the top before following with a Powerbomb and another reverse DDT in the ring in order to pick up the improbable win. Sadly “Terrible Gift” is dubbed out on New Japan World, which is all that closing exchange was missing for me.

WINNER: EL SAMURAI
RATING: *****

Thoughts: The story of this one was really good, with it being a reasonably even bout until Kanemoto decided to start being a jerk, at which point Samurai was constantly on the backfoot and struggling to hold on whilst also making the most of any attacks he was able to get in. It really worked for the crowd, as they were super into any Samurai comeback attempts and it gave the bout a tremendous atmosphere. The wrestling on display was really good as well, with Kanemoto’s kicks and punishing leg holds looking the business and Samurai getting the execution of all of his big moves on point when he finally had an opportunity to deliver some of them. The closing exchanges were just fantastic, with Kanemoto continuing to be a total knob, so it was wonderful to see Samurai make the big comeback and put the cocky twerp in his place when all was said and done. This match regularly gets it’s due credit for being an absolute blast of a contest, and if you’ve never seen it I strongly suggest hunting it down. Samurai could sometimes be a bit lazy, but when he was in the mood to have a great match he could totally hold up his end of one, and he did that here, playing his part in a classic contest

In Conclusion

All four of these matches ranged from good to amazing by my watch, so you should definitely seek them out if you have a New Japan World subscription!

If you want some more Japanese wrestling reviews then check out the archives of Maffew, Rick, Alex, J, and Phred, as they’ve got you covered for both modern and classic Japanese action!