Mike Reviews NJPW on Eurosport – Ring Warriors Halloween Special

Happy Spooky Friday Everyone!

As Halloween Eve when this goes up, I thought I’d try and find something that fit the festive mood. Thankfully, whilst out for some Fish and Chips I discovered this episode of New Japan Pro Wrestling on Eurosport. For those not familiar, Eurosport is a satellite/cable channel that airs over in, shockingly enough, Europe. Back in the 1990s the channel would sometimes re-air old NJPW matches with terrible dubbed over English commentary that sounded like it was recorded in a car park at 3am in the morning.

However, horrible though the commentary and general presentation could be, the matches were normally good because New Japan was hot in the 1990s and had some great talent on the books. I have no idea what we’re going to get on this show as I’m going in totally blind. I also have no idea how they’re going to try and Halloween theme this either, but it’s a journey we can all go on together!

Calling the action for us are Gordon Solie and Sir Oliver Humperdink

The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) Vs Kensuke Sasaki and Scott Norton

The tenuous link to Halloween here appears to be that The Steiners have some orange and black gear on parts of their gear. After doing some detective work over on Cage Match, it looks like this match took place on the 13th of December 1994 in Osaka. They seem to have dubbed over the audio completely here, with fake crowd noise on top of the already dubbed commentary. You can’t even hear the associated thuds when wrestlers land on the mat. This creates a really weird feeling to watching the match, as the sounds you expect to hear aren’t there and it creates a disconnect. Occasionally you can hear the Japanese commentary sneaking through if something exciting enough happens, but mostly you’re getting generic low hum crowd noise.

The commentary from Solie and Humperdink isn’t bad, with Solie being a big improvement on previous incumbent in the PBP seat Craig DeGeorge. The action in the match itself is a fun mix of power moves, suplexes and holds. All four of the competitors are hefty lads who can easily fling one another around, so there’s plenty of that going on and the bout never gets dull. As is usually the case with Japanese wrestling, there isn’t really a defined heat segment building to a hot tag. Instead each side essentially trades momentum and control segments, with no one really trying to build heat like you would in a traditional tag team bout in the USA.

Sasaki gets a chance to be gutsy at one stage when each Steiner brother takes it in turns to suplex him on his head and then put him in some punishing looking holds, with Sasaki of course refusing to submit because he’s so gosh darn tough. Sasaki eventually fires up and delivers some Lariat’s, with it being an effective way of showing him to be a tough native star that the fans should be buying into. Norton comes in following that and gets a good near fall on Rick with a Pump Splash, which only gets two but Scott ahs to make the save. Norton is very effective as the human brick wall when he comes in, but he ends up alone with the brothers and that leads to Scott giving Norton a Steiner-Line into a Rick German Suiplex for the three count.

WINNERS: THE STEINER BROTHERS
RATING: ***

Thoughts: Issues with the audio aside, the wrestling here was fun, with ludicrously huge men flinging each other around with the sort of ease that a normal person would throw a pillow onto their bed

Karl Von Hess Vs Antonina Rocca

This match supposedly took place on the 29th of July 1960 in Chicago. I’m not sure why this is on an episode of NJPW, but it’s a cool historical curio to see footage of two legendary competitors like this. Von Hess played the role of a Nazi back in the day (he’d fit in quite well in some parts of the world right now sadly) whilst Rocca was a very athletic grappler and a prototypical high flyer in some regard. Rocca uses a lot of rolls and kicks, which would have likely been quite unorthodox back in the day. Rocca is wrestling barefoot here, and that poses an issue for him at one stage when Von Hess takes a bite out of one of his toes in order to break his way out of a submission hold. Sadly we again have to endure the lame dubbed over crowd noise, which takes away from the action somewhat.

Rocca is almost balletic in the way he moves, and I can totally see why he would have been such a star at the time because he has charisma and a unique wrestling style that would have differentiated him from everyone else. Von Hess mostly works basic holds mixed in with attempts at cheating. He does a good job selling for Rocca, showing befuddlement at his opponent and struggling to find ways to combat his unusual style. Von Hess eventually manages to find a bit of joy by firing off some body slams, but Rocca fires back with some dropkicks and then locks in the Argentinian Back Breaker (Torture Wrack) for the submission win.

WINNER: ANTONINA ROCCA
RATING: **

Thoughts: We didn’t get to see the whole match, but what we saw was fun. Each wrestler knew the role they were there to play and they worked at a decent clip. I’m not sure how this fit the Halloween theme of the show (maybe Von Hess is scary and mean?) but the bout made for interesting viewing and it was cool to see some wrestling from 1960

UWA Welterweight Title
Challenger: Shinjiro Otani (Called “Shinji” Otani here of course, showing off Eurosport’s commitment to high broadcasting standards once again)
Vs
Champion: Norio Honaga

The UWA was a promotion in Mexico that closed down in 1995, but they worked with New Japan at the time, hence why their belt is up for grabs here. This match appears to be from the same 13th December 1994 show that the first match was from. Honaga is not someone I’ve seen a lot of, but I’ve seen a bit of Otani and he’s really good. They start this one quick, with Honaga jumping Otani at the bell and Otani responding with a springboard missile dropkick. Honaga is definitely playing the more aggressive role here, running Otani back first into the railings at ringside at one stage and then raking Otani’s face across the top rope. Otani bumps and sells for all of that well, continuously trying to find an avenue to fight back.

Otani manages to go after Honaga’s leg at one stage with some submission holds, which halts Honaga’s roughneck tactics from laying a whupping on him for a bit. Honaga is soon back in control though, seemingly having fun working as the de facto Heel here. Otani even finds himself locked in THE DREADED YOUNG LION BOSTON CRAB at one stage. If that’s an intentional slap to the face from Honaga to his less experienced opponent by trying to defeat him with a move used by the young lions, then I approve. There’s a fun dynamic in this one of Honaga being the grizzled veteran who seems almost annoyed that he has to wrestle the less experienced Otani, whilst Otani bravely keeps fighting from underneath and showing some youthful exuberance.

Humperdink isn’t up to much on commentary for a bout like this, as he’s got quite a cliché hackneyed style, but Solie does a good job and seems to be genuinely invested the longer bout rages on. They do some really good near falls, with Honaga getting some tight pinning holds and even a rana off the top at one stage, but Otani refuses to stay down and keeps kicking out. Sadly we don’t get to hear the Japanese crowd getting into the action due to the lame dubbed in crowd noise that sounds like it’s taking place in a swimming baths. Otani ends up managing to catch Honaga OUTTA NOWHERE with a Dragon Suplex, and that’s enough for the three count. Otani sells the win big, acting super excited that he’s managed to pull off the upset.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: SHINJIRO OTANI
RATING: ***3/4

Thoughts: Lame crowd dubbing aside, this was a cracking bout, with Honaga playing the grumpy veteran role well and Otani playing the impetuous youngster looking to score the big win perfectly. Good wrestling, good character work and a good story all leads to a double thumbs up for the bout. Worth seeking this one out if you haven’t seen it, ideally the actual NJPW version and not the Eurosport cut

Peggy Lee Leather Vs Bambi

I’m not sure where this match is coming from, but a trip to Cage Match suggests that it either took place in September 1990 in Gainesville, Georgia or East Ridge, Tennessee in July 1994. Bambi is clearly the babyface here, as she focuses on doing traditional Face offence like arm drags and the like, whilst Lee mostly scowls and tries to clobber Bambi with strikes. We of course get some hair-mares at certain points, because that was a staple of women’s matches back in the day. Humperdink spends most of the bout inferring that he had a relationship with Leather at one stage. The action actually isn’t bad because they are both working hard and are clearly trying to make it feel like a “proper” match and not some kind of sideshow. They even brawl outside the ring at one stage, and are really going heck for leather (pun not intended). Eventually the referee decides to count them both out and that’s the bout.

DOUBLE COUNT OUT
RATING: **

Thoughts: I don’t have a tonne to say about this one really. It was decent for the time it lasted and the two wrestlers were working hard. The finish was lame, but you could build some rematches from it at least

Wild Pegasus Vs Tiger Mask III

This match appeared to have happened during August of 1993 during G1 season. I’m guessing this one is included because it has a masked wrestler in it and thus fits the Halloween theme? Tiger would eventually start wrestling under his real name of Koji Kanemoto, and had much more success doing that as well. Tiger’s shoulder is all taped up here, suggesting that he’s carrying an injury. Pegasus wastes no time targeting the injured appendage, leading to Tiger mostly selling whilst Pegasus works him over. Pegasus looks good on offence and Tiger sells well whilst getting beaten up, so the action is decent and the bout tells a solid story. Tiger bravely keeps fighting, but after a certain point he can’t go on for any longer and the referee brings the bout to a close.

WINNER BY REFEREE STOPPAGE: WILD PEGASUS
RATING: **1/2

Thoughts: This was a solid outing that made Pegasus look like a dangerous competitor whilst Tiger got to look gutsy and only lost because the referee brought the bout to a premature end

In Conclusion

This was a decent hour of action, although the Halloween aspect was tenuous at best. The dubbing of the crowd took away from the enjoyment somewhat in my opinion, but the action in the ring was either good or interesting at least. If you lived in Europe in the 1990s and couldn’t easily import Japanese wrestling tapes, this was at least a way to get a small taste of what New Japan was up to. It’s just a shame that they couldn’t find a way to put the English commentary in without butchering the rest of the audio. These days you’re better of seeking out the original matches rather than watching this.

You can find some more of my Japan reviews HERE