Weekly Pro Wrestling Tokyo Dome Show – Bridge Of Dreams 04/02/95
By Maffew Gregg on 4 January 2026
Here it is folks, the absolute peak of the wave of 90s Puro & Joshi. Due to Japan’s Lost Decade, lack of stars, the rise of PRIDE and a dozen other reasons, no company involved in this show would ever be the same after this epic six and a half hour multi-promotional mega show that was somehow never officially released on video.
I thought it would be a nice idea to ask as many of the excellent reviewers/ranters/deviants we have here on the BOD to take on a match or two to make my life easier to multi-promote themselves just like Weekly Pro did.
The original, tentative plans for the event apparently “only” involved a half-dozen promotions and was going to be headlined by Onita who was at the height of his popularity so wasn’t as crazy as you’d think. Vader vs. Hogan was also apparently looked at as a possibility which would have been a nightmare to book and please everyone (as well as hilariously expensive) along with possible participation from ECW. Plans changed and more companies were added, with the important development being the choice of wrestlers selected. The original original intention had been to send mid-carders to represent each company but as soon as the M-Pro lads announced their multi-man match involving their best guys who had been blowing away fans for years, every other company changed gears and sent their best workers to ensure they wouldn’t be outclassed.
So every major Puro/Joshi company sending their best representatives to prove they’re better than anyone else? In theory, this seems like a great idea but they said the same about the Hindenburg so let’s find out how it worked in reality!
Bridge Of Dreams
Tokyo Dome
Attendance: 60,000
The whole show warts-and-all can be found here, individual match links are included below.
JWP Joshi Puroresu
BOD’s resident Joshi specialist already reviewed this years ago which I wasn’t aware of or I would have done something else but he was kind enough to say “yeah just use what I typed years ago” and I thank him for that. Over to him!
The Wrestlers: Kansai (in yellow) was the Ace of JWP, and their inaugural Champion, using a kick-based style and a Sit-Out Razor’s Edge (Splash Mountain) as her finisher. Fukuoka (in…. Tarzan gear) was seen as a “future star” right from the get-go, having looks and athleticism, and was slowly moving up the card. Candy (in black) was SUPER low-tier in most of the stuff I’ve seen, and was super-tiny- she became the female Tiger Mask known as Tiger Dream. Nochi (in red), another rookie, matches her gear, making them look like a WWF Tag Team. Devil Masami (in purple, looking like a supernatural monster) was a huge star in AJW in the ’80s, using a power-wrestling style, but was forcibly retired and promptly joined JWP as their other Main Eventer. Ozaki (in red), acting like a brawler & a bully despite being like five feet tall, is a very effective heel who can do just about anything in the ring. She’s a rival to Kansai. Cutie (in white) was an “Idol Wrestler” (though JWP seems to have a lot of those) with a focus on looks, but was also treated like she could fight. Yagi (in purple) is a pint-sized rookie with a lot of potential and some kick-ass moves. I would say the Ace’s team has less star power here.
And the crowd is introduced to the “Joshi Pace” immediately, as there’s a million tags and a four-person boot on Kansai, but she clobbers Yagi. Funny spot as three people alternate kicking Hikari in the head while she crabs Yagi. Candy giant swings Hikari, but this pisses off Devil, who swings Nochi in revenge- oh yeah, they’ve got this crowd already. Ozaki Powerbombs Nochi, then snaps an armbar on Kansai, who stuffs Cutie’s attacks and backdrop drives her to death. Hikari botches a corner move, but recovers with the POPEYE PUNCH that Yagi sells with an “ass over teakettle” bump- lol. I love that ridiculous, stupid, wonderful move. She lands a Rolling Cradle on Cutie, but eats a Dragon Suplex off another Punch. Double DDT, then a Doomsday Device Senton Attack from Ozaki gets two! Powerbomb gets two, but Ozaki eats mat on a Turning Splash and takes Hikari’s Moonsault! Kansai kicks her to hell, but Ozaki reverses Splash Mountain with the Tequila Sunrise (half-nelson/tiger suplex) for two! Powerbomb gets two, but Devil’s Guillotine Legdrop misses and Kansai TRUCKS her with an unbelievable kick. The whole crowd “oohs” as Ozaki sells that perfectly.
Devil slips out of Splash Mountain, so Candy Germans her in a cute bit, and a Northern Lights Suplex gets two for Kansai. Nochi hits a missile kick, and the giants annihilate the corner midgets and lariat each other in a great spot. Devil Overthrow Powerbombs Yagi ONTO Kansai, then hits a regular Powerbomb while Ozaki & Cutie do stereo flying headbutts! Yagi Flying Splash off Devil’s shoulders for two! Yagi gets cute and gets killed, but then everyone brawls and it’s QUADRUPLE PLANCHAS from Devil’s team! Yagi takes a flying splash from Candy, but tears into her leg and hits a judo flip and climbs- Pop-Up Northern Lights Superplex from Candy! She hits Rolling Germans (!!) until Cutie interferes to save Yagi’s corpse, and Devil & Kansai lariat each other again. Double Flying Stomp from Cutie & Ozaki, then Devil launches Kansai off the top with an inverted Fameasser (!). Every pin is getting blocked by a swarm of teammates, which is great. Devil climbs again, and catches Candy and LAUNCHES her when she tries another pop-up move, but that costs her- Kansai moves in and hits SPLASH MOUNTAIN OFF THE TOP!!! That gets the easy three-count at (17:29).
Good GOD- what a great showcase of the “GO GO GO” Joshi style, with a match that never slows down. Ozaki led the match because she rules, Masami led the crowd-pleasing spots and character bits, and Kansai got all those “I’M THE ACE!” power bits, and ended with the flashiest MDK in JWP. Then you get all those inventive double-teams, the great counters, the crowd-pleasing spots (quadruple planchas, etc.), and more. Again and again you saw epic moves delivered and callbacks to earlier, until Kansai took a major shitkicking and reversed one move for the win. And hell, look at Candy- making herself a STAR, there!
Rating: ****3/4 (I hope they walked into the back and were like “Beat THAT!”)
LLPW Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling
Shinobu Kandori vs. Harley Saito (Ultimate Rules Match)
Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling is the other offshoot from the original JWP, and was the “serious wrestler” group, for the most part. They’re still sort of around in diminished form.
The Wrestlers: Kandori is by far most remembered for her legendary ***** match with Akira Hokuto at the first Dream Slam, and was the Ace of LLPW, treated as an ungodly submission death matchine who could kill you at any moment. She had an arrogance to match, and… well, she’s Brock Lesnar before Brock Lesnar. Saito is a small, fast, high-flying kicker who usually dresses as a spraypainted dental hygienist. Her style is so similar to X-Pac’s that I’d swear Sean Waltman saw her ’92-94 stuff and copied it directly. This bout, however, is a Worked Shoot.
Nothing much to this one, as they work it so quickly you can’t tell whether or not it’s fake. Saito gets a head kick and Kandori’s up at “5”, then she does some judo choke attempts (why are their counts AND grappling?) until the punches get too overwhelming, and Saito gives up at (1:12).
Rating: DUD (I mean, I guess they wanted to show women could do fake shoots, too?)
All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling
Manami Toyota & Blizzard Yuki vs. Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue
All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling is of course the biggest women’s promotion in history, and was still going through a Boom Period here. Bad business decisions nearly killed them in 1997, and they limped along until dying out in the 2000s (before either of their rivals, mind you).
The Wrestlers: Toyota is Meltzer’s favorite worker, and a total “Beamspam”-type wrestler with the best flying stuff around, and is a huge star at this point, and holds AJW’s top belt. She’s wearing some leveled-up version of her regular black gear- now sporting tons of cut-outs and shiny metal bits. Yuki is Sakie Hasegawa in a masked manga character identity meant to help her get a “next level” push- she would retire before getting it- she’s in blue here. Aja (in pink) has only recently been unseated by Manami, and is a Monster-type wrestler- imagine Vader but better at literally every aspect of wrestling (and that’s not a knock on Vader). Kyoko is another main star, dressing like Ultimate Warrior and fighting like an All Japan wrestler- tons of big moves. Manami defeated Aja for the WWWA World Title only a short while earlier, so makes sure to hold it up at the end of the ramp, right where Aja can see it- OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!!
Manami fires off a missile dropkick immediately, but the bigger team bowls them over and hit stereo running lariats all the way down the ramp and over the ropes- HAIL JOSHI! Aja beats Manami all over the ring and Kyoko throws on her crowd-pleasing, wacky submissions, but Irish whips her to the ropes, so Manami does a RUNNING LEAP onto the top rope, springboarding off for a cross-body! Goddamn, how many people in wrestling could ever do that? Yuki throws on Rolling Butterfly Suplexes, but soon gets overpowered and they slug her around. Manami gets the Rolling Cradle on a second attempt on Kyoko, and Dropkick Spam gets two. Kyoko slingshots off the ropes with a dropkick of her own, Aja sits on Manami from a sunset flip but misses a splash, then catches her coming off the top and slams her, only to eat the dropkick reversal! Aja kills Yuki with a Vader Attack, piledriver & Backdrop Driver. Yuki takes a surfboard from Kyoko but manages two Savate Kicks on Aja, then Manami eats a fireman’s toss from Kyoko. Manami gets bent like gumby, turning a series of restholds into a crowd-popping bit, then they splatter her with avalanches in the corner.
Aja Powerbomb & Kyoko’s Run-Up Flying Back Elbow get two, but a Manami Roll (an insane somersault up the body into a rolling sunset flip) gets two! Yuki gets killed by lariats for two- Manami flies in to interfere, but Kyoko nails both with her Slingshot Backsplash move! Toyota/Yuki knock their opponents out of the ring and hit Suicida-style moves that the camera TOTALLY misses, then Manami uses her insane top-rope Quebrada on both. Doomsday Device Dropkick on Kyoko gets two! Yuki climbs, but it’s a Pop-Up Belly-To-Belly Superplex for two! Niagara Driver (over-the-shoulder Ligerbomb) attempt, but Yuki rolls out, dodges a lariat and hits a BEAUTIFUL Uranage! And AJA gets one! Kyoko gets three more, but BARELY kicks out. Manami goes for the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex (straightjacket electric chair drop suplex w/ bridge), but Kyoko snaps off a German Suplex hold for two. Manami dodges Aja’s Uraken (spinning backfist), but tries another Manami Roll and they do the “Powerbomb Reversal” spot out of that. Then it’s ANOTHER Toyota/Aja spot, as Aja aims for the Super Mountain Bomb finisher, but Manami rolls out and hits a Sunset Flip Powerbomb from there, for two! They absolutely crush Manami with a Doomsday Device/Run-Up Flying Back Elbow for a… “Fuck YOU!” bridge! Manami is insane! Aja’s Uraken is blocked again, and Manami hits the Japanese Ocean (double-hammerlock) Suplex… but can’t hold a bridge! Manami charges, but eats a HUGE Uraken, and Yuki has to save her. Kyoko hits the Niagara Driver on Yuki while Aja lands the Super Mountain Bomb for the win (17:46) to deflate the crowd.
This was a very typically-great AJW style tag match with a fast start, slower early period, then rapid double-teams and reversals as time went on. The precision wasn’t exactly there (Manami & Yuki slid out of a fair bit of moves before they hit “flush”), but you could tell they were showcasing a “Greatest Hits” of all their big moves and spots, mostly with Manami & Kyoko showing off all the cool shit they could do that nobody else could match. Kyoko’s incredible Pop-Up Belly-To-Belly Superplex and Toyota’s “jump right onto the top rope without using my hands” thing are just… I mean, this is why you watch AJW. It felt like there was still another gear or two in there (Manami didn’t even hit her finisher, and Yuki felt like she was barely a part of the match), but it was still high-tier.
Rating: ****1/4 (your everyday amazing AJW match- ho-hum)
Go Gundan
Ryuma Go vs. Uchu Majin Silver X (Alien Death Match for Interpromotional Title)
First of all, I’d like to thank Maffew for inviting me to contribute to this project, and what a lovely idea of a project it is! Having a bunch of the Blog’s writers and posters review one match from the 1995 Weekly Pro Bridge of Dreams super show at the Tokyo Dome, when 13 different wrestling promotions each contributed with one match. The event ended up being mostly controversial, as well as dealing a blow to both Weekly Pro and its editor-in-chief, the infamous Tarzan Yamamoto, but this event still stands as the most diverse Pro Wrestling Interpromotional Card of all time, as again, there’re freaking 13 different promotions represented here! Men’s promotions, women’s promotions, standard pro wresting promotions, Deathmatch and Hardcore promotions, Shoot-Style promotions, a, supposed, legit proto-MMA promotion, a Lucharesu promotion… and then there’s the one featured in this match, a straight-up Indie Sleaze Wrestling promotion!
Go Gundan, a wrestling promotion funded and promoted by one Hiroshi Yagi, better known by his in-ring name of Ryuma Go. Yagi made his pro wrestling debut in the old IWE promotion on September 1971, making him an over 23-year veteran at this point, but one who had had a very shaky career by this point. He had jumped to NJPW in 1978 to become Tatsumi Fujinami’s outsider native rival, with the two having a number of famous matches for the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship in 78/79, then in 1980 Go invaded the IWE, which at that point was cooperating with NJPW, he followed Hisashi Shinma to the new UWF promotion in early 1984, left the UWF in late 1984 due to the style moving towards what eventually became Shoot-Style, and joined AJPW just in time for the annual Real World Tag League, during which Go and several former IWE guys formed the villainous Kokusai Ketsumeigun stable, but he’d be released on March 1986 as part of cost-cutting measures, as well as a rumour of having offended Giant Baba. Go would then work as a freelancer for the AWA starting on the following April, working as Ninja Go and Mister Go, and by early 1987 was also working matches for Bill Watts’ UWF, before being brought back to AJPW to work the July Summer Action Series tour.
By 1988 Go was running out of wrestling opportunities, both in Japan and in the US, and ended up managing a patron’s Okonomiyaki restaurant, up until late 1988 when he was contacted by another former IWE wrestler, Masahiko Takasugi, who had a patron willing to invest in creating a new wrestling promotion, now that the Newborn UWF had shown a Japanese wrestling promotion could be sustainable and successful outside the classic Showa Era model of needing Network TV. On November 15, 1988 Go, Takasugi and Apollo Sugawara announced the foundation of Pioneer Senshi on a press conference at Animal Hamaguchi’s Gym. Pioneer Senshi became known as the proper first Indie Japanese promotion, and it’s considered the first Indie Sleaze promotion. They even managed to work an interpromotional deal with NJPW due to Go’s connections with Fujinami, back from their work together in the late 70’s, but this was when Go’s physical issues and limitations would come to haunt him, as his performances in NJPW left much to be desired, with Fujinami openly criticizing him, and culminated on a singles match with Fujinami on December 1990, where in the lead-up to it Go gave an interview to Weekly Gong stating he “didn’t want to be become a pro wrestling idiot!”, and that expression of Puroresu Baka would be something that would follow him in the future. Go again had a poor performance in the match with Fujinami, resulting in NJPW commentator, Yoshinari Tsuji, to state on-air that Go was more of a Puroresu Hippo rather than a Puroresu Baka.
Pioneer Senshi closed up shortly after that match, and for the next year and a half Go would have no employment prospect in pro wrestling, at least until Pioneer was revived on June 1992 as Oriental Pro Wrestling, which also featured talent from the soon-to-be deceased Pacific Northwest Wrestling. That experiment went reasonably well until internal disputes and embezzlement of company money led to Go being expelled from the promotion in December.
Go found work at PNW’s successor, Championship Wrestling USA, and started promoting his own local shows again, under the name of Atsugi Pro Wrestling, with support from CW-USA. This all lead to a show on August 1st, 1994 at Korakuen Hall, where Go wrestled the masked alien pro wrestler Uchuu Majin X, and during the match Go captured the crowd’s attention by shouting “Oh!!” like Jumbo Tsuruta while attacking his opponent with multiple weapons, winning the match and, as per his Japanese Wikipedia article, cutting a promo stating; “I’m a Puroresu Baka who can only do pro wrestling! I may be a stupid (Baka) and clumsy guy, but please come to the venue again!”, to which he received loud cheers from the crowd, as well as chants of “Baka”. This was covered by the wrestling media, and lead to the establishment of his Puroresu Baka nickname, and crowds chanting “Baka” during his matches, to which Go would respond in post-match mic appeal with “To all the Puroresu Bakas watching!”.
This series of random events led to what one might call the birth of a genuine grassroots movement for an over-the-hill veteran who was never really that good, but who managed to capture the hearts of the fans through his efforts to engage them. If in 2013/14 there was the famous “Yes Movement”, one can look back to 1994 and see Ryuma Go’s Puroresu Baka as a predecessor to that, what with having an underappreciated by management former indie wrestler finding great support from the fanbase out of sympathy! One might even say there wouldn’t have been a Daniel Bryan without Ryuma go!
(Please don’t take the previous paragraph particularly seriously)
As per why Go Gundan got the spot on this event, WAR was originally planned to participate, but due to a feud between Genichiro Tenryu and Tarzan Yamamoto, and them already having scheduled a Korakuen Show on the same day, WAR pulled out, and that might have created the opening that resulted in this match happening. Go was also contacting Weekly Pro’s editorial department frequently during this time period, so that closer relationship might also have contributed for their presence. I’m not sure, I’m just throwing conjectures here.
Finally, Go’s opponent is none other than Uchuu Majin Silver X (Cosmic Magical Being Silver X), an Indie Sleaze gimmick originally created in the Pro Wrestling Crusaders promotion (which Maffew knows quite well!), under the name Uchuu Power X, which was an homage to the Strong Machines gimmick from 1984/85 in NJPW, showcasing supposed alien beings capable of using their Cosmic Power to win matches. Said Cosmic Power manifesting as an oven mitt covered in fire-resistant material which would be set fire to, so they could deliver a soft flaming caress to their opponents. The gimmick had changed to Uchuu Majin by 1994, and by April 95 it had further evolved to Uchuu Majin Silver X, who’s apparently played by another wrestler known by Maffew, Hiroshi Shimada (who also played the original Uchuu Power X in PWC).
Uchuu Majin Silver X enters first, accompanied by Super Uchuu Majin (with the Star of David on his apron) and the Monster Tag Team of Demonio Uno and Demonio Dos (who better resemble Zombie Hillbillies than demons!), to the sound of Mars: The Bringer of War, the first movement of Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite, The Planets. Silver X is wearing a silver apron as well as a silver hockey mask with an X painted on it.
Ryuma Go follows, entering to Eye of the Tiger by Survival, maybe trying to channel the spirit of Hulk Hogan since he has to fight a big fat heel monster, with the ring announcer calling him the Puroresu Baka as one would expect, and Go’s even wearing a t-shirt with his picture on it, Go Go Ryuma above it, and Pro Wrestling Baka below! He calls upon the crowd and throws his arm upwards, Jumbo style, so the crowd can shout “Oh!!!”, already engaging them even before the match starts.
The crowd starts loudly chanting “Baka!!” even as the referee is checking the wrestlers, such is the power of the Puroresu Baka Movement! They start the match doing some very basic sequences, but the crowd reacts quite well to all that simple tomfoolery, cheering when Go hits a move, and throwing some boos when Silver X counters or does some offence. They also take advantage of The Demonios and Super Uchuu Majin being on ringside, as they distract the referee and double-team Go, culminating on him being thrown outside the ring and triple-teamed by the heels (Silver X loses his mask when he throws Go outside, and needs to put it back on. Maybe he knew Maffew would one day look at this?). Generic beating continues, but they are getting very solid heat from the fans, much louder than you’d expect from the fourth match on the card, first featuring men, on the cavernous Tokyo Dome. Go’s left leg gets targeted and worked on by all the baddies, and Silver X even smacks Go with some tool before locking a Texas Cloverleaf, with the crowd chanting “Baka” as Go gets to the ropes. Silver X then locks a Figure-4 to keep working the leg. Go makes a comeback with headbutts, which are somehow effective against the hockey mask-wearing Silver X, but intervention from Super forces a submission break. Go keeps working holds, this time a crab, but the goons keep interfering and breaking Go’s submissions. He ends up getting the tool and wallops all four monsters with it, throwing up his arm for another loud “Oh!!” (which sounds a lot like “Shaw!!” now that I think about it) from the fans. They get on the ramp and Go again hits everyone with the tool, and then lariats Silver X back onto the ring, but gets attacked by the cronies, and Silver X hits a Kneebreaker and locks a Texas Cloverleaf. Powerslam by Silver X only gets 2.
Silver X gets on top of the turnbuckle to hit a flying lariat, but Go kicks out again. Silver X again goes up and hits a Diving Fist Drop for a near 3-count. Silver X avalanches Go on the corner, but Go dodges a second one and hits a lariat… and then Silver X botches the timing for a second running lariat, because Maffew is involved and botches are a must, but Go ends up hitting a double lariat on Super Uchuu Majin and one of the Demonios. Running Neckbreaker Drop gets 2, a backdrop suplex gets another 2. A second Running Neckbreaker Drop allows Go to go up the ropes and hit a Diving Neckbreaker Drop, motions to the crowd, and then hits a third Running Neckbreaker Drop for the win at 15:11.
Go goes up all four corners and throws his arm up so the crowd can shout “Oh!!/Shaw!!Aahh!!!” (by this point I’m not sure of which one it is…) while Eye of the Tiger plays. He then grabs the microphone and thanks all the Pro Wrestling fans, and Puroresu Bakas, in attendance to a loud cheer and names himself a Puroresu Baka as you’d expect, throwing one final arm upwards for a final “Oh!!/Shaw!!Aahh!!!” (I’ll be damned if I know which one it is!).
I’ll not going to mince words, this was a super generic Babyface vs Cheating Heel match, one that is completely unmemorable and forgettable as so many, many, many matches are… but here the crowd was really into it! This is particularly notable due to the Tokyo Dome being a large cavernous venue with not the best of acoustics, which often results in matches lacking great crowd response to sound really quiet. This wasn’t the case here. The crowd wasn’t exploding for Go’s offence and comebacks, this wasn’t Takada/Hashimoto from the Battle Formation show on April ’96, but they were making noise throughout the match, and even the lulls never fell into that feeling of wrestling to silence.
Mick Foley puts it very well on his book, Have a Nice Day, where he states:
We stood in the waiting area while the match before us went on. To put it kindly, the match was godawful, but the crowd was going crazy. Ryuma Go and his two masked Americans were putting on one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen, but the sold-out crowd was eating up every bit of it… What I didn’t realize is that Ryuma Go is a big wrestling joke that the whole country is in on. His matches were supposed to be bad, and the fans love him for it.
This isn’t a match one should look to for great wrestling action, because there was none of it here! This match was a joke, a big old joke with super basic and generic stuff you can find in millions of wrestling matches… but this was a joke the fans in attendance were into, were willing to play along with, were willing to be a part of. The Puroresu Baka Movement was fairly short lived (it was over a year later), but in this moment in time it was enough to sustain a series of self-promoted wrestling events, and enough to make a joke of a basic and generic match one of the most noteworthy ones from this one-of-a-kind interpromotional event.
I’m not into pro wrestling ratings, which I find very silly, but I can make due for this match, and as such I award this match the highest, completely unprecedent, rating of…
Rating: 5 Puroresu Bakas out of “Oh!!/Shaw!!Aahh!!!” (still don’t know which one’s supposed to be)!
IWA Japan
Terry Funk & Shoji Nakamaki & Leatherface vs. Cactus Jack & The HeadHunters
First off; thanks very much to Maffew for having me along for the ride here. My choices when it came down to matches to review here were either this from IWA or Shoot Style stuff from RINGS, so I decided to plump for the IWA match instead. For those not au fait; IWA was essentially a Japanese version of ECW from around the same time period, in that they did have actual wrestling on the cards when they could manage to book wrestlers who were capable of doing it, but the main selling point of the promotion was that they did ultraviolent matches like this one.
The Headhunters are big blokes from Puerto Rico who look alike and can do Moonsault’s. Cactus Jack was in-between WCW and the WWF at the time, working for ECW and bleeding buckets in Japan in order to make a living. Leatherface is a gentleman from Manitoba in Canada, dressed to resemble the chainsaw wielding psychopath from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Nakamaki is an unassuming bloke who looks like he should be working in HR for a financial institution and hating every single day of his existence, but instead he’s here wrestling at the Tokyo Dome. Nakamaki essentially worked for all of the major hardcore promotions in Japan, passing through FMW, W*ING, IWA and Big Japan during his career. Funk had previously been a gigantic star in Japan, and had tearfully retired from All Japan back in 1983. However, Funk reneged on that retirement and, though still popular and beloved amongst the Japanese fans, his popularity never quite reached that peak level again.
The premise here is that they’ve got barbed wire boards around ringside and a barbed wire wrapped baseball bat in the ring that folks can use as a weapon. For some reason though they decide to have a footrace to ascertain who can get to the bat first, which means you have the bizarre sight of six nutters, most of whom are not physically cut out to move at anything quicker than shuffling speed, trying to make it down the big Tokyo Dome ramp in order to see who can make it to the bat first. Thankfully Terry Funk’s knees don’t immediately explode once he begins his descent down the ramp to the ring, with Cactus and Nakamaki being the first to make it near to the ring.
Nakamaki can’t really wrestle that well, but he does do a pretty nice looking standing headbutt, so he mostly just relies on that like he’s someone who keeps spamming their A+B attack when facing you on No Mercy. Speaking of Video Games; there’s a big Konami banner in The Dome, suggesting that they were one of the sponsors for this thing. Thankfully this didn’t lead to them making a terrible Bridge of Dreams pachinko machine (although I’m sure they were thinking about it and just weren’t quick enough to the drawing board). This one is basically impossible to do detailed PBP for, as it involves six insane brawlers clobbering one another with anything they can get a hold of and bleeding gushers.
As someone who can appreciate a wild brawl on occasion, this one is a decent enough example of the genre, with the majority of the combatants all wearing white so as to empathise any of the claret that is getting spilt. One of the Headhunters nearly annihilates his tailbone at one stage by doing a leg drop off the top rope onto the ramp, with poor Nakamaki being the recipient of the move of course. Sadly I can’t tell if any serious damage was done to the Hunter in question, because The Headhunters already lumber around like every single one of their joints is creaking in agony, so a broken arse probably isn’t going to make much of a difference. Cactus gets his neck caught in the ropes at one stage, and is either selling really well or is in genuine fear for his life. His partners don’t seem especially worried for his safety at any rate, with one of the Hunter’s leaping off the top rope whilst Cactus is screaming for help.
Leatherface isn’t really around for the first half of the match, with Funk and Nakamaki essentially going 2 on 3, leading to Nakamaki getting sandwiched between the barbed wire boards and getting Moonsaulted by one of the Hunters. That terrifying spot is the cue for Leatherface to tear himself away from the especially interesting egg and watercress salad that he must have been eating, and head down with his chainsaw to attack the Heels and start making the comeback for the babyfaces, with the crowd yelping when he starts hitting his opponents with the non-saw part of the chainsaw. Leatherface’s daring chainsaw rescue does lead to the Heel team starting to bleed, with Funk beginning to Funk Up outside the ring against Cactus for good measure, with Cactus taking an incredible bump over the metal railings to the front row area.
We get an infamous spot where Cactus tries to set one of the boards on fire, but fate intervenes and it ends up not lighting. This actually was quite a fortuitous thing, as the fire marshal would have apparently shut the show down had Cactus been successful, meaning that the IWA would be to blame for one of the biggest shows of the year ending abruptly. The match does kind of die a little bit at that point with the big spot going awry, so poor Nakamaki has to take even more punishment in order to get them invested again, which does eventually work, with the fans clapping Nakamaki for surviving a Cactus Piledriver at one stage. The Hunters and Leatherface both do dives to the floor, although Leatherface’s is more like he just finds somewhere high and falls in the general direction of the two massive lads.
Not to be outdone; Cactus gets slammed off the top rope down to the arena floor at one stage by Funk, as they are clearly doing everything they can to make this one standout. Case in point, Funk does a ridiculous Moonsault off the top rope onto Cactus following that, with the crowd making their trademark “OOOOWWWAAAAAHHHHH” noise for it. That was incredibly impressive when you consider both Funk’s age and his ever declining physical condition at the time. I actually quite like the finish, as Nakamaki, the man who has been absolutely battered all match outside of doing a handful of headbutt’s, actually ends up being the one to get the winning pin, when he sends a Hunter into a board in the corner and gets the desperation roll-up for three after around 18 Minutes. That was a really well executed underdog win actually.
WINNERS: TEAM FUNK
RATING: ***3/4
Thoughts: This won’t be for everyone of course, as it was mostly guys getting hit with weapons, bleeding and doing some ridiculous high spots to cap it all off until the weakest dude in the match got a last gasp win. You could have basically done the same match in ECW by having Mikey Whipwreck and The Public Enemy teaming up against The Eliminators and Raven or something, even all the way down to the finish, and it would have likely worked there as well. It got decent reactions from the live crowd, who seemed to have fun with it. In fact, it was generally considered at the time that IWA did a better job that FMW when it came to being the wacky hardcore promotion on this event, which ended up being a big win for IWA overall. If seeing a pudgy unathletic Japanese man in jeans and a long sleeve T-Shirt getting crushed between barbed wire boards by an obese man from Puerto Rico doesn’t sound like your personal jam, then this match won’t convert you. However, if that sounds like a tune you think you’d be able to dance to, then this match will likely be an entertaining Dog and Pony Show for you.
Pancrase
Minoru Suzuki vs. Christopher DeWeaver
Hi and welcome to me wading into very unfamiliar territory. That’s part of the appeal for me, I think. I don’t know what I’m in for, but it is from 1995 which is a time when wrestling in the US is very nostalgic for me. Maybe I’ll feel the same about wrestling from Tokyo. I know of Minoru Suzuki on the very fringe “I know he’s Murder Grandpa and he’s done things in AEW that I didn’t really watch,” but that’s it. I couldn’t tell you who Christopher DeWeaver is if it were to save my life.
This was on the BMSWP Dome Spring Full Bloom show. DeWeaver comes out first to, of all things, Tom Jones’ “If I Only Knew.” If only more shows included Tom Jones songs. Chris is a very generic looking MMA bro. Suzuki, of course, has a little more aura and a full light show to go with his entrance and a nice robe. So far he gets style and entrance points. He also has hair which is very weird to see as someone who has only seen him with what he has or doesn’t have now. DeWeaver gets a polite response when introduced while the fans are clearly behind Suzuki.
And then the bell rings. Weaver gets a few early strikes and attacks in the corner, rolling Suzuki into a headlock. Suzuki tries to fight for position and gets to his feet, still trying to fight out of the hold.. Then he does. Suzuki grabs the legs and hooks on a leglock, DeWeaver tapping quickly. All it took was Suzuki finding the right position to quickly put DeWeaver away and tear his legs apart. Impressive! As the medics spray down DeWeaver’s knee, Suzuki pulls him up to hold his arm up. Suzuki marches proudly to the back having barely broken a sweat.
This was interesting! Looking at his MMA record, things didn’t really go anywhere for DeWeaver after the match. Suzuki is 57 and still going strong. This did give me interest in looking for some other older Suzuki material.
PWFG
Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Carl Greco & Don Arakawa
OK about time I wrote something. Fujiwara is the definition of an ancient hard-ass, Ishikawa would turn into him decades later, Arakawa is a tremendous comedy bloke, and I don’t know Carl Greco is but I assume he’s in a tag team with his half-brother Roman.
Ishikawa and Greco grappling to start, until Greco roundhouse kicks his foe to the mat. Style is energetic to start and I won’t even try to type every transition. Crowd applaud politely. Greco looks very good with his rolling ankle picks as this match is promising so far. Then Dan slaps Ishikawa in the back of the head and the crowd laugh. Don then lands a hilariously prolonged three strike sequence in the corner to more amusement. Fujiwara tags in and you’d think this 900 year old man would be the one to straighten him out but uhh no. Don hurts his hand trying to punch him in the chest before missing a childish jump into the turnbuckles. I’m getting mixed signals here. Greco tags in to take down Fujiwara impressively before Don runs in to interfere with the power of comedy by goosing Fujiwara.
Crowd adored that and I enjoy them enjoying it, but they need to make their mind up if this is a serious contest or silly buggers. Greco and Ishikawa trade stretchings on the mat, almost over-trying so they can remind the fans it’s PWFG they’re watching. Neither lad can gain the advantage with their rolling ankle locks so Greco scores a knockdown with a low kick. Ishikawa gets the eight count but recovers enough to backdrop Greco, who then converts it into an armbar. Fujiwara tags in to grab Greco’s foot on a kick so he can take his foe down…before he demands Don tag in. Huh. Fujiwara gives him clobbering blows over the ropes a la Sheamus, leading to a completely ridiculous swan-dive sell flop off the apron to the joy of the fans. I laughed pretty hard at that too in fairness. Don gets serious and attempts to headbutt Fujiwara multiple times (with the audio making it clear they *are* making hard, hard contact) but Don is ancient so Don’s head is the only one to suffer. Don’s falling headbutts to a downed Fujiwara repeatedly miss as Fujiwara rolls away and this match has settled down to mostly comedy so I’m enjoying it more. Ishikawa wants Don, who immediately beans himself trying a backslide. Ha!
Greco rolls Ishikawa for the rear naked choke with Don assisting by stomping Ishikawa’s hand away from the ropes. Ishikawa recovers enough to make a comeback with his own damn headbutts and armbars, before both men reset in the middle of the ring. Match settled down to just the young lads but as we’re settling, the old jokes tag back in. Don unsettles Fujiwara in the corner with an Olympic eye rake. The ref is required to step in and stop this so Fuj can apply his own one. Miserable Fujiwara won’t stop choking Don who can’t even roll out of the ring by the time the young uns tag in. Ishikawa gets taken down multiple times but gets up and dunks poor Greco directly onto his head with an overhead belly to belly, before a triangle hold ends it at 16:30 with the crowd sounding a tad disappointed.
Considering every match is supposed to sum up the positives of each company, it’s curious to see a shoot-style company be mostly comedy. I mean in terms of providing variety I approve but it also meant it was impossible to get into the serious grappling when Don kept on interrupting with his buffoonery and got more reactions than anything else in the fight? **
Michinoku Pro
Super Delfin & TAKA Michinoku & Gran Naniwa vs. Great Sasuke & SATO & Shiryu
To advise the Tokyo faithful that there will be comedy involved, Naniwa posed like the “Immortal” Hulk Hogan. Because when you think of comedy, you immediately associate it with Hogan. For those unaware, Shiryu would become Kaz Hayashi in WCW during the Monday Night War whereas Sato would transform into Dick Togo of Kaientai.
Shiryu and Naniwa began and entertained the Tokyo faithful with some lucha libre. When tags were exchanged on both sides, Michinoku didn’t break cleanly off the ropes, slapped Sasuke, took him down with a snap mare, and connected with a seated dropkick. Michinoku applied a single-leg crab, but Sasuke escaped and hooked a leg bar. As he unloaded a series of kicks, Sasuke unfurled a spin kick. They traded chops until Michinoku splattered Sasuke with a flying forearm. After he threatened a springboard tope, Michinoku backflipped back into the ring because he’s King Rudo.
Tags were exchanged on both sides again, and Sato both leapfrogged and hip-tossed Delfin. While Delfin dealt him a flying headscissors, Sato responded with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker that put Delfin on the floor. Sticking with the lucha libre formula, Michinoku and Sasuke entered the ring, and Michinoku leapfrogged Sasuke before decimating him with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex.
Michinoku sprinted to the apron, leaped atop the top turnbuckle, and launched a flying knee drop to Sasuke. Escaping a quick rear chin lock, Michinoku fell victim to a spinning heel kick. Shiryu and Naniwa took their turn, and Naniwa flapjacked him into a kick to the midsection. OUCH! Performing both balance and flips where I’d only seen Eddie Guerrero executed, Shiryu scored with his own kick to the midsection.
Naniwa claimed that Shiryu went WAY DOWNTOWN on him, so he got a little breather. Continuing his complaint about the shot to the junk, Naniwa countered a huracanrana into a powerbomb. In a funny bit, Naniwa mounted the second rope, but Shiryu kept rolling in pain. Naniwa shuffled sideways like a crab along the second rope inching closer to him. Ultimately, Shiryu shook the second rope sending Naniwa reeling down to the mat. He dropkicked Naniwa between the ropes to the floor but reconsidered before projecting himself into a tope suicida.
Next, Sato and Michinoku swapped in, and Michinoku levelled him with a forearm smash. Sato no-sold a chop and press-slammed Michinoku to the floor. Meanwhile, Sasuke and Delfin switched, and Delfin fed Sasuke a spinning tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Fancy!
Sasuke leapfrogged him, but Delfin returned fire with a clothesline. Upon reversing a cross corner whip, Sasuke performed a flip. Delfin tried a pair of kicks, but an enziguri by Sasuke sent him reeling to the floor. Alternating with Shiryu and Naniwa again, Naniwa attempted to dropkick Shiryu but came up empty. Shiryu gave Naniwa a cross corner whip and followed with a monkey flip. Using his hands to generate momentum, Shiryu sent Naniwa soaring with a flying headscissors. The rudos tried to triple-team him, but Shiryu muscled Delfin off him. For Michinoku’s turn, Naniwa and Delfin attempted a double chop but inadvertently nailed him instead.
Getting knocked down by Naniwa and Delfin, Shiryu kept nipping up culminating in a quadruple jump by everyone to a great response from the Tokyo faithful. Avoiding the rudos via consecutive hip tosses, Shiryu ruined Delfin’s Sunday late-night plans with an atomic drop. He dropkicked Delfin out of the ring into the waiting arms of a female ringsider. In the meantime, Sato distracted the referee, so the rudos triple-teamed Shiryu again. How dastardly!
They gave Shiryu a cross corner whip and whipped Delfin into him with a cross body block. Charging, Naniwa SQUISHED Shiryu while Michinoku brought up the rear with a menacing forearm smash. The triple-team continued as Sato must have been listing the ingredients for Kare pan to the unperturbed referee. Nevertheless, Michinoku hoisted Shiryu, and Delfin unwrapped a standing dropkick. Instantly, Naniwa splashed Shiryu, and the rudos celebrated by tying Shiryu up in a knot. Naniwa tied Shiryu to the Tree of Woe, and rudos altered Shiryu’s voice from a tenor into a soprano.
Afterward, Delfin and Naniwa double-suplexed Shiryu, and Michinoku followed with a springboard splash for 2. Delfin continued to ruin Shiryu’s evening with an inverted atomic drop and blatantly kicked him WAY DOWNTOWN. Threatening to do it again, Delfin switched to a satori-gatame a.k.a. Sharpshooter. Naniwa tagged in, and the rudos incited some clapping as Delfin stretched out Shiryu’s arm. Subsequently, they did the same act with Sato; however, when it was Sasuke’s turn, he turned the tables so that Delfin stretched Naniwa’s arm instead. HA! Naniwa, a true professional, sold it like death. Magnificent! He complained to Delfin and retreated up the ramp. Whereas he retreated as well, Delfin reassured Naniwa there would be Ichigo Daifuku later. Yum!
Back in the ring, Naniwa and Delfin double-teamed Shiryu out of the ring. Sato came in, and the rudos attempted another double-team against him. On the other hand, Sato kicked Delfin away, and a lucha car crash occurred. With Shiryu and Sasuke atop them, the tecnicos got 2. Sato dropkicked Delfin out of the ring but got tripped coming off the ropes by Naniwa. Coming off the opposite ropes, Sasuke got tripped by Delfin. Naniwa stopped Sato in his tracks and made him HIT THE POLE. On the other side of the ring, Delfin gave Sasuke the same treatment. Within the ring, Michinoku flattened Shiryu with a tilt-a-whirl slam for 2. He and Delfin stymied Shiryu with a double spinebuster followed by a double leg lock.
On the contrary, Sasuke and Sato locked Michinoku and Delfin in what amounted to a quadruple leg lock. Naniwa crab-walked atop Sasuke and got 2. Thereafter, the tecnicos unleashed a triple hurricanrana and earned a 2-count. Shiryu botched trying to jump onto the turnbuckles but pummelled Michinoku with a somersault plancha. Mounting the top turnbuckle, Naniwa blasted Shiryu with a tope. Sato impersonated a kamikaze pilot by nailing Naniwa with a tope suicida. Atop the top turnbuckle, Delfin dove onto Sato, and Sasuke unwound an Asai moonsault that sent him between the sets of steel railings. Wow!
Michinoku returned to the ring and glided with an enormous tope onto Sasuke. Impressive! Springboarding off the top rope, Michinoku caught Sato with a missile dropkick and got 2. Sato destroyed Michinoku with a snap powerslam, slammed him, mounted the top turnbuckle, and crucified him with a flying senton splash for 2. Clotheslining Sato, Naniwa succumbed to a second Asai moonsault by Sasuke for 2. Sasuke attempted a powerbomb, but Naniwa countered with a hurricanrana cradle for 2. Rebounding with a handspring elbow, Sasuke caused Naniwa to fall out of the ring. Sasuke uncoiled an amazing somersault tope con hilo while Delfin mounted the second turnbuckle and annihilated Shiryu with a tornado DDT. Tying Shiryu up in a Delfin Clutch, Delfin pinned him. Delfin, Naniwa, & Michinoku won at 22:26.
After the match, the rudos celebrate in the ring while tension arises between the tecnicos. Delfin receives an envelope that might contain money although that’s debatable. Naniwa grabs the microphone, but I can’t speak or understand Japanese to interpret. He asks Delfin for a few words, and the Tokyo faithful rejoices. Delfin, a.k.a. Hiroto Wakita, interestingly would become a member of the Izumi City Council in 2012.
Rating: ****
Summary: First, the spectacle of the ring garb worn by Naniwa, Delfin, Sato, and Shiryu prior to the match made the presentation look fantastic. Second, the lucha libre story told by these six wrestlers was astounding. If you’ve never watched any AAA or Michinoku Pro, this match would be a great introduction. Third, the speed, workrate, and high-flying stood off the charts for a match that happened in 1995. Fourth, Naniwa brought some comedic relief that allowed the match not to take itself so seriously. In turn, the Tokyo faithful enjoyed their tongue-in-cheek comedy.
Overall, the match was tremendously exciting and spectacular. Highly recommended.
RINGS
Maeda is crazily over. Dolman is fifty and retiring at the end of the month so this makes for a send-off to someone who had been going since the original UWF.
Dolman sends Maeda into the ropes before crunching him to the mat, using his body weight to compress Maeda down. Dolman has the back mount, kinda. Crowd are forgiving. Maeda makes the ropes which allows him to throw strikes that are deflected by Dolman’s swift elbows. Dolman takes Maeda to the mat again as the constant cries of “Maeeeda” spread like trapped souls through the Dome. Maeda takes Dolman to the ropes so he can use his rope break. Dolman utilises the headlock but Maeda wriggles out and has a think before both men apply ankle locks at the same time. Ref ends it before both men lose and win, leading to Dolman attempt a standing ankle which Maeda effortlessly converts into an ankle lock from the mat for the tap out at 5:26. Crowd are shocked but thankful once it is confirmed it’s a win for Maeda.
Oof. Well, as a send-off to an original it was pleasant as Dolman didn’t do anything to embarrass himself while trying to keep this realistic but this did nothing to stand out or impress on such a loaded night of action. Biggest positive was the shortness, no wonder I couldn’t find someone to type about this instead.
UWF-i
Nobuhiko Takada & Masahito Kakihara & Billy Scott vs. Gary Albright & Kazuo Yamazaki & Gene Lydick
I don’t really appreciate shoot-style tag matches at the best of times as I feel it’s tough to keep the realism when there’s no way the match is ending before everyone gets their shit in. However, given the entire show is supposed to be highlighting the best of their roster, it makes a lot of sense. Everyone shows hands pre-match but Yamazaki stares down Takada who declines to start with him, sending Scott instead. Crowd are hyped already.
Scott & Yamazaki feel one another out in a fast-paced manner, looking a lot more quick and knowledgeable than the PWFG participants from earlier. A rope break eventually ends the welcoming portion of the match which is ended with Kakihara tagging in to land as many strikes as possible in three seconds. Yamazaki ducks a kick to apply a heel hook to shut him up.
Lydick comes in to trade high kicks with Kakihara that sound more like whips once they make impact. Lydick fights out of a guard into a rear naked choke which looks grand but is stopped by the ref due to reasons. Kakihara lands a high kick enough for a takedown, with Lydick wisely tagging in Yamazaki just as Takada shows up. Crowd are buzzing.
Yamazaki tries to power forward but Takada keeps control with his Coleman-destroying kicks. Takada’s knees set up a full nelson, which Yamazaki escapes out of but in doing so leads himself wide open for a rugby punt to the mid-section. Yamazaki recovers before the ref can count him out, leading to him applying a leglock. Takada turns it into a rear naked choke but Yamazaki wriggles to the ropes easily enough. Yamazaki lands a quick German Suplex which Takada rolls through and pretends it didn’t hurt but by the time he’s vertical, Albright has tagged in.
Takada bravely tags in Scott. Crowd boos. That’s not a good sign for the Ace! Albright has no issues scooping up Scott and giving him a Deadlift German suplex. Scott blocks the Full Nelson by grabbing the ropes, leading to him sodding off and tagging in Takada finally.
Albright sticks Takada’s takedown so he can get 90% of a Full Nelson and locks in deep. But Takada uses the power of THE UWF INTERNATIONAL to muster up the strength and loud crowd reaction to get the ropes.
Takada tries more kicks but Albright absorbs them like The Blob so he can suplex Takada. However, Takada counters into a cross armbreaker with Albright yelling and the ref again stopping the hold and restarting vertically. I think I’m missing something here. Takada and Albright tag out Lydick and Kakihara. Lydick controls with a single leg, holding with one arm so he can kick with the other until Kakihara beautifully swims out of it.
Takada bravely tags in now that Lydick is weeping. He takes Lydick into a guard before rolling into the cross armbreaker again. Crowd go wild every time that’s connected. Lydick wisely grabs the ropes but gets floored by a leg kick from Takada. Lydick is taken down and shoved into a cross armbreaker for real this time to end it at 15:17.
Well everyone got a chance to show off their skill-set while wasting little time as well as letting everyone know Takada is very, very over. The grappling at the start, the full-on suplexes as well as Takada’s kicks made this a streamlined showcase that ended at the right time with Lydick’s poor leg in as good a shape as my liver. Plus there was enough here to make you want to check out more UWF-i shows and hopefully see Yamazaki or Albright get their hands on Takada. ***1/4
Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling
Great Nita (Onita) vs. King Pogo (Mr. Pogo)
You know that old booking trope where an obnoxious, arrogant heel signs an open contract or demands anyone to accept his challenge on the fly, then immediately gets his comeuppance? Welcome to the fate of someone who gave the thumbs up for the most freak-show dumpster-fire option still on the table.
The bad blood between Atsushi Oniti and Mr. Pogo goes way back to the early days of FMW, but it was Pogo’s return to the promotion in mid-1993 that lead to them battling throughout 1994, swapping the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship as well as going to war over the promotion’s Tag Team Championship. Late in 1994, Onita debuted his alter ego “The Great Nita” (likely inspired by Keiji Muto’s “The Great Muta”), using this enhanced version of himself to score several victories against Pogo in singles and tag team action.
Not to be outdone, Pogo introduced his own alter persona, “Pogo Daiyo”, and on January 21st, 1995, defeated Onita for the Heavyweight Title. The two would trade victories in March, competing under these alter personas, which brings us to this match. With all that, I failed to mention that Onita is on a retirement tour, with his last match set for the FMW 6th Anniversary Show on May 4th. Wait… retirement tour? That seems like a good time to swing at low-hanging fruit in the year of our lord, 2025, but we’ll carry on with business.
My first thought watching this is “wow, Pogo walks like a man who put his body through hell”, and I guess that’s pointing out the most obvious, based on his style and just a handful of matches I’ve researched for the sake of this recap. Ignoring his limps, the entrance gear of a one-eyed demon is some great stuff.
Nita sprays his mist and Pogo responds by spraying his own, but instead of in the air, it’s directly in the face of Nita, giving him the opening advantage. He attempts to shoot Nita into the barbed wire, but a baseball slide keeps enough distance for Nita to avoid making contact. The two lockup, teasing to push the other into the wire, getting a little closer each time, but ultimately, unsuccessful. Nita with a series of strikes, staggering Pogo. A shoulder block has Pogo reeling and just inches from the wire. Nita goes for broke and rolls snake eyes, with Pogo shuffling out of the way and Nita hitting the barbed wire for the first explosion!
Who needs time to let things breathe, as Pogo brings a SICKLE into the match, tears away part of Nita’s jacket and STABS HIM IN THE BACK, making sure to twist it around for extra effect, no doubt inspiring a young Jon Good to get into the Blood ‘n’ Guts business. The sickle gets more gasp reactions from me, as Pogo wraps it across the throat of Nita and tries, and fails, to set off a second explosion. Since that fails, Pogo simply places the sickle in Nita’s mouth. I’m sorry, unless he’s spitting up the raspberry jam, that’s no buys from me. Nita fights off the blood-thirsty Pogo and spits his mist into the eyes, disarming Pogo in the process. Nita lands a few strikes with the sickle and hits a big ‘ol DDT for a near-fall. HOLY CRAP! A WRESTLING MOVE!
I’m honestly surprised that neither man is bleeding buckets to sell being assaulted with a damn SICKLE. Pogo has recuperated and now has a barbed wire wrapped baseball bat and one good shot knocks Nita into yet another explosion for a near-fall. Pogo winds up and charges at Nita for another swing, only for the bat to hit the wire and sets off the first explosion that inflicts damage to Pogo. Nita grabs the bat and knocks Pogo into the barbed wire again. Pogo starts having an adrenaline rush, shrugging off several running headbutts. Nita finally has enough of this, grabbing Pogo, charging into the barbed wire with Pogo taking the full impact of the explosion, and covering for the decisive three-count at 10:53.
Post-match, Nita removes one of his wrist straps, pours a bottle of water on Pogo’s face and does the same to himself. He remains in the ring, basking in the crowd’s appreciation… and unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be much heat in the match itself, and the post-match reaction was either non-existent or the audio was too poor to pick up much of the crowd. Based on Dave Meltzer’s coverage of the event in the April 10th, 1995 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the ring was positioned in an awkward part of the venue, limiting the visibility to a good portion of the audience.
The match itself was a bit of a letdown, considering the gimmick involved. As full disclosure, I’m NOT a fan of this kind of work, though I came in with an open mind and my complaints aren’t “OH MY GOD, THE VIOLENCE”; I actually expected more, or at least more color considering the majority of the offense revolved around a blade. The opening minutes of teasing and escaping with the littlest room for error is a great way to build to the first big spot, and they pulled that off. Pogo going for the sicko assault worked until the match got too comfortable with that one weapon, and if you’re going to do a mouth spot, I need someone spitting up a ton of blood capsules like Charlie on It’s Always Sunny. From there, Nita had a decent comeback, and Pogo gave us the primal roar last stand, but the last explosion didn’t land as much as I wanted it to. I was ready to compliment that Nita took both their bodies into the barbed wire, but there’s not enough visual evidence for me to accept that fully, so I’m left wondering if that was supposed to be a self-sacrifice, or did we get a bad camera angle of the final spot? I’ve seen far, far worse, and I’ve seen much better. This falls firmly in the “fine” camp, and sometimes that can be the worst judgment when you’re in a prominent spot on an All-Star card in a special attraction gimmick. **½
AJPW
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Stan Hansen vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Johnny Ace
Like every other promoter for this show, Giant Baba wanted his match to be a showcase of the best AJPW had to offer. But he also took a big gamble in deciding which wrestlers would be booked. At the time AJPW had a fairly depleted roster, especially on the heel side: Ted DiBiase had gotten badly injured, Terry Gordy wasn’t the same man after his coma, and Steve Williams had been expelled from Japan for a year just a month earlier after being caught with narcotics at Narita Airport. And of course there was the final decision-making itself: this match had been voted on by AJPW’s fans. But this particular arrangement wasn’t what the #1 choice. According to veteran journalist Hidetoshi Ichinose in his biblical Four Kings biography, the original fan vote was for Misawa & Kobashi to team with giant Baba to face the team of Kawada, Taue…and Jumbo Tsuruta. Despite his outward vows to listen to his fans’ words, Baba himself didn’t want the spotlight on himself.
As for Tsuruta, he was already back in the academic world, lecturing at various universities. Though there had been murmurings of Tsuruta’s return to AJPW, it was clear that his time in the main event was gone. This was as much by choice as it was due to illness: not only did Tsuruta not want his reputation to negate what the Four Kings achieved while he was away but stylistically he and them walked different paths. Tsuruta was quite critical of the Kings’ excessively dangerous style and preferred his own which was an expression of controlled strength. Ichinose expresses this stylistic distinction as the difference between driving with one’s foot touching the brakes (Tsuruta) and driving using only the accelerator (Four Heavenly Kings). Anyways this left AJPW struggling to find capable names. Ultimately the babyface side of Misawa & Kobashi was joined by Stan Hansen (who, despite being a heel, was universally loved all over Japan) while the heel side was joined by…Johnny Ace. I don’t know about you but for me Ace’s presence here makes it blatantly obvious that Dr. Death was supposed to be in that spot but the Narita Airport fiasco scuttled those plans.
Kobashi & Taue start off with a basic exchange that ends with a Taue boot. Kobashi answers with a shoulderblock and a vertical suplex. He lands some corner chops but Taue hits back and drops him with a clothesline. Kawada tags in and immediately turns aggressive with a scoop slam/spine punt combo plus some chop takedowns for a two-count. Kobashi escapes a Dangerous Backdrop attempt and tags Misawa. Misawa wins a strike exchange then does his gymnastics display to show off. A flying crossbody gets two. Kawada escapes a facelock so Hansen tags in and double shoulderblocks Kawada alongside Misawa and knocks Ace off the apron. Hansen drops elbows for two and attempts a powerbomb but Taue makes the same leading to a Holy Demon Army double team. Ace tags in and lands a flying clothesline for two followed by a DDT/running elbow drop combo. Hansen counters an Irish whip with an elbow and punts Ace’s spine. Then Kobashi tags in and the sight of his erstwhile partner fires Ace up. Ace ducks a lariat and lands a dropkick, leading to a stalemate.
Taue tags in and clotheslines for two. Kobashi powers out of a powerbomb and tags Misawa who lands a flurry of kick combos for another near-fall. Hansen tags in and lands his elbow drop sleeper thing which, while simplistic, looks way more painful than a normal sleeper. Then Kobashi tags in and works alongside Hansen for a bit but Taue reverses a vertical suplex and tags Kawada. Kawada turns a cobra twist into a sort of ride-the-wings hold (maybe he secretly admires Manami Toyota) and then we get our token AJPW strength battle spot. Kobashi puts all his might into out-powering Kawada but Kawada out-grapples and counters into a hook kick to regain control. I love this dynamic of gutsy-but-naïve Kobashi versus cold and calculated Kawada.
Ace tags in and lands a running uppercut for two. He follows with a deep headlock and some knuckles to the nose but Kobashi answers with a backdrop and tags Hansen. Hansen does Hansen things for a two-count and then Ace counters a body drop with a kick and a clothesline, to which Hansen responds with a DDT for two. Misawa tags in and delivers elbows plus a chinlock only for Ace to get a ropebreak. Kobashi tags in, lands some knees, reverses a corner charge and lands a Tsuruta Backdrop suplex for two. Taue cuts Kobashi off to stop a dive which allows Ace to hit a second-rope superplex and tag Taue. A Dynamic Kick from Taue gets two so he tags Kawada. Kobashi loses a chop battle with Kawada as the latter switches to middle kicks. A huge spinkick sends Kobashi to the mat and Kawada tags Ace who covers but Kobashi gets a ropebreak.
Ace pulls a page out of Kobashi’s playbook with a guillotine leg drop on the ropes for two. Kobashi survives another cobra twist and a short-range lariat so Ace tags Taue who lands a release atomic drop for two. Taue sets Kobashi up for a running big boot from Kawada from the entrance ramp for yet another near-fall. Kawada locks in a sharpshooter but Hansen breaks it up. Ace rags in and lands Riptide on Kobashi for two. Taue tags in, wins a strike battle, and lands a Samoan drop for, of course, two. Kawada tags in and gets a near-fall off a vertical suplex. Ace and Taue knock Hansen & Misawa off the apron as Kawada locks Kobashi in the Stretch Plum. Kobashi inches his way to hot tag Hansen (“Kobashi”, “Hansen”, and “tag” in the same sentence really feels weird) and eventually makes it. Hansen no-sells Kawada’s stepkicks and both guys fire up. Hansen lands a release powerbomb which shakes Kawada so much he collapses halfway through an Irish whip. Ace interferes but Hansen dispatches him quickly, which allows Kawada to land a sudden spinkick to create some distance.
Taue tags in but so does Misawa and they do battle. Taue avoids both a Tiger Driver and a Tiger Suplex but Misawa soon counters into a successful Tiger Driver for two. Kobashi does some support and sets Taue up for Misawa’s elbow suicida. Kobashi, now legal, hits a DDT on Taue as Hansen does the same to Ace and Misawa does to Kawada, all simultaneously. Kobashi lands a bridging German suplex for two and gets another two-count from a moonsault. Taue resists a dragon suplex so Kobashi chops his neck and lands a guillotine leg drop. Taue avoids a second moonsault and kicks Kobashi as he attempts a different dive. Ace tags in and runs wild with corner lariat combos. Ace Crusher. Two-count. Ace Crusher II/Rocker Dropper. Two-count and a bit of interference ensues. Ace moonsaults Kobashi as everyone else struggles in different corners. 2.7-count. Ace hits a corner spinkick but Kobashi blocks an elevated DDT and hits a running neckbreaker. Hansen tags in and lands a back suplex.
He follows with a Folding powerbomb but Kawada breaks it up. Misawa dispatches Kawada so that Hansen can whip Ace into him. Misawa drills Ace with an elbow and then whips Ace into Hansen for the Western Lariat. Taue interferes before the pinfall and chokeslams Hansen. Then Taue throat drops Misawa on the top rope and tags Kawada. Hansen resists a Soul-Infused Powerbomb and a Stretch Plum so Kawada lariats him instead. Kawada attempts a Brainbuster but Hansen reverses and tags Misawa, who hits a bevy of strikes until Kawada drops him with a gamengiri. Taue tags in and lands another top-rope hotshot. Misawa blocks a corner version but runs into a powerslam. Dynamic Bomb. Two-count. Misawa blocks a chokeslam so Taue tries another Dynamic bomb. Misawa counters with a Frankensteiner. Kobashi gets a hot tag. He ducks a few clotheslines and lands a shoulderblock. But before he can do anything else the bell chimes. Time has run out.
Match Result: 30-Minute DRAW
First things first, whatever clips of this match that are available, including the one above, badly distort the audio to the point that the crowd’s response comes off far more muted than it really was. This is particularly important for Misawa who, per most if not all initial live reports, received the loudest reaction out of anyone on the card. The man was a god on this night and he wasn’t even in a singles match or the main-event. 1995 was the year of Mitsuharu Misawa bar none and even if he was like third or fourth biggest player in this match he was still the ace of Japanese professional wrestling, at least to this audience.
Now, with that out of the way I can honestly say that this was a fun match to watch and a tremendous exhibition of AJPW’s product. On a show built on giving audiences a taste of what they can expect from each promotion AJPW shined with the best match on the card. It was typical of the Four Heavenly Kings’ style with a three-act structure, quick tags, isolation strategies, and all the other machinations of classical pro wrestling with a Japanese twist. But by no means was this a paint-by-numbers affair: everyone shined here, including even Johnny Ace, by far the least significant man in the match. Each wrestler played his biggest hits much to the crowd’s delight. Nobody wen overboard with unnecessary viciousness, stiffness, or excess.
And dedicated fans got a special treat in the form of the novelty of seeing Stan Hansen team with Misawa & Kobashi rather than try to kill them as he was usually wont to do. This alone was particularly fun: there’s something interesting in seeing two diametrically opposed sides team together and work towards a common goal, especially if one of those sides is the unchained chaos incarnate that is Stan Hansen.
That said, I wouldn’t call this a perfect 5-Star classic by any means, chiefly because of how they worked the finish…or in this case, didn’t work it. Kobashi didn’t exercise the same degree of urgency as Misawa or Hansen did in trying to put the opposing side away and instead wrestled like he was starting a comeback sequence and not trying to end the match. That disconnect hurt the match because it worked against the time limit stipulation that had been a major force up to that point when others were in the ring. It comes down to a matter of choice and the way Kobashi executed this finishing bit made it seem like he thought there was more time than there really was. Aside from that the match really felt “surface level” with everyone playing the hits and not going too deep with any specific stories. Misawa’s feud with Kawada was barely touched on, Ace and Kobashi could’ve gone a bit deeper with their longstanding on-again-off-again arrangement, and Hansen didn’t get to shine as much as he usually does. I know he’s basically a god in Japan (and rightfully so) but here he came across as a bit muted and restrained compared to when he wrestles as a full monster heel. There were teases of him at his best such as when he went at it with Kawada but, again, they could’ve gone further with the material they had. For an exhibition/amuse-bouche of a match this was tremendous, but compared to AJPW’s usual offerings this match left a lot to be desired.
Rating: ****1/2
Though not one the same level as the many, many, MANY classics AJPW had throughout the 1990s, this is still an incredible match despite its simplistic premise and execution. This goes to show just how great AJPW’s in-house style was: even a bog-standard exhibition match with random combinations was better than many wrestlers’ career-best matches. The main quartet in this match were called the Four Heavenly Kings for good reason: they and their rotating cast of support players were simply in another atmosphere when it came to delivering top-level in-ring matches that didn’t need an entire machine to explain and present to the public.
NJPW
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masa Chono
Both lads fought one another in the Tokyo Dome the previous year for the IWGP Title. Chono justifies his spot in the main event by walking out to Hard Crush.
A clearly jealous Hashimoto charges with a Yakuza Kick as soon as the bell rings. He misses but sweeps Chono instead. Hash’s brutally tough kicks are thrown into Chono’s chest, with the ref attempting to stop him but getting shoved in response. Chono retaliates with a spinning wheel kick and enziguri, before both lands strike and chop one another as hard as possible. Hash goes after Chono’s taped-up shoulder that I’ve only just noticed due to the poor video quality. Greco-Roman knuckle lock test of strength turns into more strikes before calming down and going right back to the knuckle lock. Hash nearly has a shoulder lock applied before Masa eye rakes to escape. Crowd didn’t pop for that, I think they thought Chono was attacking his hair. Chono asks for cheers and he gets it. He asks for some more and I think he’s worried.
Hash doesn’t care about the pop and goes for a DDT but ends up jacking his own knee in the process. Chono leisurely works on Hash’s knee which makes sense as I wouldn’t want him kicking me either. Hash fights back by using the other leg before realising that still hurts. Crowd are yelling the occasional bit of encouragement but they’re not getting behind either of these lads. Mr. Saito at ringside attempts to pull Hashimoto out of the ring directly in front of the ref which finally gets the crowd making noise. It’s boos, but it’s still noise.
Chono sticks to plodding along with more leg-based offence until Hash goes after the taped shoulder that may as well have a giant yellow arrow pointed at it. Hash escapes a suplex to kick Hash in the knee, leading to a STF which gets the crowd excited as they fear for Hash’s health. Hash can’t do anything but squeal as Chono yanks him and pulls his hair. Eventually the ref demands Chono release the hold as it’s going nowhere. Huh.
Hash then takes Chono down and goes for I think a STF. It’s broken up immediately as the ref tells both men to fight. Ouch. Chono goes up top but Hashimoto judo throws him off the top for two. You’d think the crowd would pop for that but they only golf clap. Divorce Court gives Hashimoto two, as does a DDT. The flow here has been all over the place and not in a good way. Hashimoto works over Chono’s shoulder which is better than Chono on offence as Chono emotes more. Chono revs up his foot so he can land multiple Yakuza Kicks to a defiant Hash who won’t stay down. Hashimoto retaliates with a big ol’ spinning wheel kick which gets a close two count. Head-first snug Brainbuster connects on Chono which is good enough…for the pin at 15:56? Oh.
Match only felt like it was getting started, I couldn’t believe it ended as flat as that. It ended up being little more than “I’ll work on you, you work on me and then we go home” which made for a solid yet unspectacular match but that’s not what was required after that six-man. Considering his love of kicking people very fucking hard, Hash could have maybe worked a bit fucking harder on selling his knee and giving a damn. * 1/2
The show would finally end with Tarzan Yamamoto entering the ring to celebrate with Hashimoto who promised there would be another Bridge Of Dreams.
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Yamamoto would be booed, despite him being the reason for the whole thing. Fucking wrestling fans.
Notes…
Due to the beef between Tenryu and Weekly Pro Wrestling, WAR hosted a show at Korakuen Hall at the same time as this event.
The Korakuen Hall show also sold out and with standing room packed a reported 2,200 fans into the 1,850-seat Hall. A closed circuit site, which also sold out, was added to the grounds to handle the overflow. Ironically, it wasn’t until 8:45 p.m., minutes after the six hour and 45 minute-long Dome show had ended, but before the WAR main matches had gone into the ring, that the closed-circuit theater showing was packed since right after Shinya Hashimoto pinned Masa Chono to end the Dome show, an estimated 480 fans rushed to the theater to catch two more matches.
Imagine watching that much wrestling in one sitting. Actually I’m fairly certain half the people reading this have will have done that at one point. Or maybe that’s wishful thinking.
Overall
So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Budokan and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark — that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.
There’s plenty of genuinely great matches here along with amazingly bad decisions by people who should know better. But with so many different genres on display, by definition there’s going to be at least one match here you’ll enjoy but I wouldn’t recommend watching it in one giant setting. It’d be like eating an entire box of Quality Street in one hour.
A giant Thank You to all the wonderful contributors and writers of this fair site for getting involved and in some instances stepping out of their comfort zone to come together to form an incredibly long, poorly dubbed version of the Megazord.
Hope you all have a lovely 2026 watching wrestling, we’ve been The Blog Of Doom.