Botchamania Reviews Japan — page 6

Rants

WAR Wrestle And Romance – Revolution In Ryogoku Kokugikan 12/15/93

By Maffew Gregg on 25th November 2023

Wrestle And Romance

Tokyo, Japan
Ryogoku Kokugikan
Attendance: 11,000

Previously In WAR…

You know last time when I said “WAR needs some direction in this NJPW feud as it’s burning out”? Well after NJPW’s 11/04 card, Antonio Inoki announced he’s taking on Genichiro Tenryu in their first ever singles match at the Jan 4th Show. Oh. OH. Yeah that’ll do nicely, thanks.

Koji Kitao was married on 11/7 and Genichiro Tenryu was at his wedding, talking with the press about wanting a singles match against Kitao. Well, it’s probably going to be less stressful than dealing with Inoki.

Anyway WAR’s last release of 1993 is Tenryu’s 30th Anniversary Show (counting from the start of his pre-wrestling sumo career).

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Rants

WAR Wrestle And Romance ~ WAR-ISM Dragon Spirit~

By Maffew Gregg on 18th November 2023

Wrestle And Romance

Fukui, Japan
City Gymnasium
Attendance: 3,700

Previously In WAR…

WAR and LLPW are combining for a show on 11/28, which is worth mentioning is the show would be called WRESTLE AND GORGEOUS.

WAR is feeling some cracks for the first time in a while as they opened their tour on 10/1 and failed to sell out the Nakajima Sports Center. Glad they decided to record it for a home video release!

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Rants

WAR Wrestle And Romance – Winning War In Bay Area 09/12/93

By Maffew Gregg on 11th November 2023

Wrestle And Romance 

Chiba, Japan
Makuhari Messe Event Hall
Attendance: 7,200

Previously In WAR…

The WAR/NJPW feud may be cooling off but that didn’t stop NJPW from selling out Korakuen Hall with a show consisting of simply Skinhead guys vs. WAR guys (that wasn’t filmed but sounded nice).

Also YET ANOTHER SWS splinter group is getting started up with the SPWF starting soon, notably including Yoshiaki Yatsu & Shinichi Nakano who both buggered off after the WAR/NOW split. They’re going to be emphasising “amateur style” in an attempt to distance themselves from the dozens of other companies failing to make a profit in the same area.

Also: Weekly Pro Wrestling had its fan-voted Mid-1993 Awards and the good news is that Tenryu edged out Misawa for Wrestler Of The Year, and Men’s singles match of the year went to Tenryu vs. Hashimoto from 6/17 at Budokan Hall, barely beating out Gordy vs. Kobashi on 5/21.

Anyway, let’s pay $185 for ringside seats for the first ever Chono vs. Tenryu singles match!

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Rants

WAR Wrestle And Romance ~ First Anniversary Of Revolution~ 06/17/93

By Maffew Gregg on 4th November 2023

Wrestle And Romance

Tokyo, Japan
Nippon Budokan
Attendance: 14,000

Previously In WAR…

Masao Orihara competed in NJPW’s round robin Top Of The Super J ’93 and left with the lowest score. He’s not on this anniversary show presumably because of the shame he brought to WAR.

The show was originally released across two tapes with the match card all switched around but thanks to modern technology (browsing Cagematch) we can watch it as God (Volk Han) intended. So let’s jump into the most-attended show in WAR’s history and easily their biggest show to date!

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Rants

WAR Wrestle And Romance – Osaka Dream II 05/24/93

By Maffew Gregg on 28th October 2023

Wrestle And Romance

Osaka, Japan
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
Attendance: 6,300

Previously In WAR….

NJPW ran the Fukuoka Dome two weeks prior to this show and *only* drew 55,000 fans when they were hoping to break the all-time record in a venue larger than the Tokyo Dome. The show was most notable for WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan defeating The Great Muta and then doing an interview where he called the WWF title a toy.

Following up such a giant show is probably why we don’t get Tenryu vs. Hashimoto tonight as even though it’s what we all want, you can’t have a big-arse show followed by another big-arse show so soon (unless you’re AEW, I guess).

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Rants

WAR vs. NJPW Top Showdown Sendai Super Dream Match 04/02/93

By Maffew Gregg on 30th September 2023

Wrestle And Romance 

Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
City Gymnasium
Attendance: 8,100

Previously In WAR…

WAR continued their winning ways against NJPW with Takashi Ishikawa & Genichiro Tenryu pinning Tatsumi Fujinami & Riki Choshu in the main event of NJPW’s recent Hyper Battle, with Ishikawa being the one to lariat The Fuj and pin him, causing Choshu to vow revenge and finally bring Hashimoto into the interpromotional war on WAR’s home turf.

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