mrbrownstone
Fucking Hostile
Super J Cup 1994 Review
The idea here is simple NJPW got the 14 best cruiserweights from around the world and put them all into one single elimination tournament. This has been called the best display of cruiserweight wrestling ever and Dave Meltzer named it the show of the year for 1994, considering the years had by the WWF and WCW in 1994 there may not have been a hell of a lot of competition. Lets see if it lives up to that very high praise.
Your competitors are:
(SPWF) Masayoshi Motegi
(FMW) Hayabusa
(FMW) Ricky Fuji
(WAR) Gedo
(Michinoku Pro) Super Delfin
(Michinoku Pro) TAKA Michinoku
*(Michinoku Pro) The Great SASUKE
(New Japan) Negro Casas
(New Japan) Dean Malenko
(New Japan) Black Tiger (Eddie Guerrero)
*(New Japan) Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit)
(New Japan) Shinjiro Ohtani
(New Japan) El Samurai
(New Japan) Jushin THUNDER Liger
*These two have first round byes.
Anyway lets get on with the show.
Malenko vs. Gedo
Fairly weak stuff here, Malenko controlled the majority of this match showing off his technical prowess with Gedo only getting in some sporadic weak looking head-butts and chops. They cranked this way up at then end with Malenko even hitting a top rope cross body which surprised me. The ending came out of nowhere with Gedo getting a power slam that apparently has magical powers as it got eh win even though is looked a lot like Malenko kicked out at two. This was a decent match with a poor finish. My biggest criticism however is the wrong man won, Malenko controlled 90% of this and then Gedo hits a power slam? Not liking that. Decent match but nothing special **1/2.
Super Delfin vs. Shinjiro Ohtani
Good stuff here, both guys were working hard out there and the end result was a pretty good match, We got a nice mixture of highflying and technical mat based wrestling here which is always a good combination when done right. Ohtani impressed me here as he hit some really nice diving and springboard moves but also showed great prowess on the mat. The Delfin Clutch, which was used to pin Ohtani, is absolutely ridiculous though, not sure who thought that one was a good idea. Oh Delfins mask is awesome too. Good stuff ***1/4.
Taka Michinoku vs. Black Tiger (Eddie Guerrero)
Taka looks like a baby here, upon further review he was 21 here but he looks all of about 15. Eddie starts out with a hiss and a roar hitting a Senton, power bomb and neckbeaker in the space of about a minute. Off to an abdominal stretch which and sharpshooter and this is all Eddie in the early going. Taka takes control for the first time with a headlock before but Eddie is like fuck that and destroys with a massive clothesline. Taka goes for a moonsault but ends up just flipping off the top rope instead, he follows that up with a badly botched rana in what may have been his first real offense of the match. Taka hits big belly to belly, throwing Eddie halfway across the ring, followed by an outside dive, which looked great. Taka suplexes him back in and hits a German for two. Huge power bomb by Eddie gets two, that looked amazing. Frog splash gets two, I legitimately thought that was it. Another power bomb but this time by Taka also gets two, as does a moonsualt. He goes for a 2nd Moonsault but it eats knees. Brainbuster by Eddie get a very close 2 and a Tornado DDT ends Taka. That was good stuff as Eddie carried Taka to a pretty good match ***1/2
Masayoshi Motegi vs. El Samurai
We get a suicide dive straight away from Motegi. He tries to follow that up with a top rope cross body to the outside but he botches it falling of the top rope. That looked awful. Both men trade some stiff shots with Samurai winning that battle. A piledriver and back suplex both get 2 for El Samurai. We go to the mat for a bit with El Samurai again winning that battle. A tombstone gets 2 for Samurai and he gets a Suicide dive of his own. Motegi gets suplexed back in which Samurai follows up with a top rope drop kick. Apart from an early flurry El Samurai has dominated this. Right as I type that a power bomb from Motegi gets two. He locks on a surfboard, which is always a cool move. Rolling Germans get countered into a rollup for two for Samurai. El Samurai gets a German of his own for two and a power bomb ends this. Decent stuff here but nothing special. **3/4
Ricky Fuji vs. Negro Casas
Fuji looks like some kind of insane mixture of Bret Hart and HBK minus the amazing ring skills. He has he HBK pants and a Bret Hart esque ring jacket. We start off with some nice mat work with neither guy being able to get any kind of prolonged advantage. This lasts a while and is rather boring. Lots of headcissors and headlocks here as I am waiting for them to actually do something. Finally we are done with that as Negro gets some stiff sounding kicks and a clothesline for two. Fuji goes to work on the leg which gets him nowhere as Negro gets a springboard cross body to the outside which looked like it half missed. Back in with Fuji getting a backbreaker followed by a suplex for two. Out of nowhere a roll up gets two for Negro. He follows that up with a pair of Sentons, the second one missed though so Fuji hits some clotheslines followed up by a Tiger Bomb for a rather abrupt win. Uninteresting here as half of this was spent on the mat doing nothing and the other half just wasnt that good. The worst part of this though is that it means we will have to see more of Fuji later in the show and I dont think anyone wants that. **1/4.
HAYABUSA vs. JUSHIN "THUNDER" LYGER
Liger is way over here, as you would expect. Hayabusa gets a big flip out to the floor and a dropkick to the back of the head to start us off. He follows that up with a slam and a leg drop for two. He attempts to work on the leg but Liger has different plans and gets a figure four. Since this isnt a Flair match though the ropes are of course reached. Liger goes off with strikes, which he follows with a power bomb. Huge lariat gets two for Liger, this is rather good so far. Liger continues to work on the leg with something resembling an Indian Death lock. Rolling Liger Kick in the corner gets a nice pop but no cover, which is stupid. Instead though Liger hits a superplex, which gets a very close two. Hayabusa gets his first offense in a good while with a spin kick and dropkick for two. He follows that with a standing Senton, which also gets two. He gets a spinning wheel kick off the top and that looked awesome. Moonsault gets two as this is getting very good very fast. Another top rope spinning wheel kick, this time to the back of the head, gets us yet another near fall. Gut buster sets up a SSP but Liger rolled out of the way upon further review no he didnt as Haybusa just missed. Big Liger bomb gets two and shocks me as I thought that was it. Top rope dive is countered into an amazing looking Liger bomb and a fishermans Brainbuster ends this. This was a rather awesome match and the crowd being way into it helped. Both men got to show off for extended periods and it worked very well. The botched SSP is a shame but I can live with it. Best match of the night so far easily. ***3/4
Super Delphin vs. Gedo
Fuck, this is possibly the worst combination possible in this tournament. They realize this apparently and go for a comedy match with hair pulling, blatant overselling of chops, head-butts to the balls and other general tomfoolery. 
Surprisingly though the crowd are eating this up. Even the commentators laugh here. They get a bit more serious with Delfin hitting a big cross body to the outside. Back in and Delfin counters a rana into a roll up for a close two. Gedo gets the power slam he used to beat Malenko earlier for two. He gets a nice 2nd rope moonsault for two, as when they go serious these two arent too bad. Delfin gets a German for two followed up by a top rope elbow also for, you guessed it, two. Gedo missed a charge in the corner and oversells some more chops. Tornado DDT by Delfin but Gedo reverses the pin attempt into a rollup for the win. This wasnt horrible actually, the comedy bit was funny, the crowd was into it and when they decided to go serious they werent too bad. ***
Wild Pegasus vs. Black Tiger
To most wrestling fans this would be better known as Benoit vs. Eddie and that is how I will be referring to them. This should be awesome. We start with a really good technical sequence with both men getting momentary advantages. Eddie comes out of it with the advantage though as he stomps away and gets a Senton for no cover. Awesome back suplex does get a cover though and it of course gets two. Eddie follows that up with a head scissors but Benoit gets the ropes. Benoit gets a really nice reverse suplex, I love that move and I wish more people used it. That is followed up with a huge lariat to half kill Eddie. Big knee to the stomach as Benoit is really fast. Apparently he is working on the stomach as he dumps him on the ropes stomach first. A German gets two as does a big power bomb. Snap suplex but Eddie gets the ropes. Head scissors as they finally rest after going flat out all match so far. Benoit screams for the ref to ASK HIM, so thats where Jericho got it. Out of nowhere a rollup gets two for Eddie, he gets a rana and a German to take back control. Eddie locks on a Cobra Clutch for a while but Benoit counters a top rope dropkick by just moving out of the way, some times the simple counters are the best. Eddie gets out of a wristlock by jumping to the top rope and getting a rana. Another rana from the top gets a close two. Brainbuster and this is getting awesome very quick. Benoit counters a tornado DDT by throwing Eddie halfway across the ring. Benoit counters a cross body into what can be best described as an arm drag for the win. Awesome match but then again were you expecting anything else? These two could have a good match in their sleep and this was no exception. Great stuff here ****.
EL SAMURAI vs. THE GREAT SASUKE
Sasuke is way over, perhaps more so than Liger which is no mean feat. Samurai works on the leg to start this one off. Lots of nice technical work from both men with Samurai getting a slight advantage. Samurai continues the legwork and locks in a crazy looking submission. Samurai shows sound strategy and continues work on the leg of the highflyer. Sasuke takes to the outside to regroup. Back in and Samurai locks in an amazing looking submission, which sends the crowd into a frenzy. Sasuke hits a handspring back elbow, which he follows by handspringing over the fucking top rope onto Samurai. That was incredible. Samurai not wanting to be upstaged hits a big flip of his own to the outside. Back in and Samurai gets two on a German, which gets a huge reaction from the crowd. Diving head-butt also gets two and the crowd loves this. I cant say I blame them, as this is awesome. A power bomb is countered into a roll up for two for Sasuke. Sasuke gets a sunset flip power bomb for two. Samurai gets a power bomb of his own for the same result. The crowd is white hot here. A rana from Sasuke is countered into a rollup but Sasuke counters that into a rollup of his own for the win. Awesome match here with great technical stuff, amazing highflying and a white hot crowd, you cant ask for any more than that. Great stuff as this show is getting better and better with every match. ****1/4
RICKY FUJI vs. JUSHIN "THUNDER" LYGER
Gee I wonder who is winning this one? Liger comes out to an ovation, Fuji not so much. I will spare you the play by play, as this is just a foregone conclusion that Liger wins. Fuji was decent in this including some nice highflying and a sick power bomb on the outside but then again Liger could carry a broom to a passable match. Liger of course wins with a top rope hurricanrana. Decent match actually but the fact the ending was never in any doubt hurt it. ***1/4
Wild Pegasus vs. Gedo
They start off fast with Benoit knocking Gedo down to get the advantage. He gets a 2nd rope guillotine leg drop for two. Awesome looking chops in the corner from Benoit half kill Gedo. He misses a dropkick though, which allows Gedo to gain control. Gedo locks in a submission and yells ask him, Jericho approves. A piledriver gets two for Gedo. They fight over chops with Benoit winning by a mile. Gedo gets a dropkick, which sets up an awesome moonsault to the outside. The power slam from earlier has apparently lost the magical powers it had in the Malenko match as it only gets two. A tiger suplex gets the same result. Flying head-butt misses from Gedo misses to give Benoit control. Not for long though as Gedo counters a back suplex to a cross body for two. Benoit gets a big gutwrench power bomb for a close two. A regular power bomb sets up the swan dive head-butt and the win for Benoit. This was rather good actually, Gedo was interesting for once and he hit some nice stuff out there, Benoit was his usual awesome stuff and together they managed a pretty good match. ***1/2
Jushin Liger vs. The Great Sasuke.
Oh hell yeah, this should be great. They start off all quick and technical which gets a nice pop from the crowd. They fight over a pin with neither getting more than a 1 count. After some nice technical stuff Liger gets a surfboard, that move never fails to be awesome. He transitions from that into a cobra clutch. From out of nowhere he gets a rolling liger kick to take control of this match. That keeps Sasuke down a while, as he is either a really good seller or legitimately hurt, based on the refs reaction I am leaning towards the latter. Big jumping tombstone from Liger but instead of covering he gets a cross face chicken wing. Liger begins to go to work on the arm with some stomping and various submissions highlighted by an arm bar. Big back suplex and it would seem Sasuke is still reeling from the kick from earlier. Top rope dropkick is reversed by Sasuke into a dropkick of his own as he appears to be fine now. Big asai moonsault from Sasuke gets a huge reaction from the crowd as this is starting to pick up after a slowish start. They fight over a suplex but Sasuke just says fuck it and knocks Liger into the ring post sending him back to the outside prompting Sasuke to hit a beautiful somersault plancha. PIledriver gets two for Sasuke as does a sick looking Razors Edge power bomb. Ligers selling of that is awesome. Tombstone sets up a top rope Senton but that misses allowing Liger to regain control of this match. Huge Liger bomb gets two, my god that looked awesome. The crowd is way into this at this point. Big top rope rana hits but Sasuke counters the pin attempt into a pin of hit own for two. That only serves to piss Liger off though as he throws him halfway across the ring with a German. Fishermans buster gets only two to possibly the biggest crowd reaction of the night. Liger suplexes Sasuke to the outside, which he follows up with a big cross body from the top rope. Another rolling Liger kick but Liger turns his back allowing Sasuke to botch a springboard dropkick that looked bad. He gets a rana into a pin for the three count instead and the crowd erupts. Awesome match here as these two meshed together brilliantly. This was bordering on five start until the botch from Sasuke, still very good though. ****1/2
Wild Pegasus vs. The Great Sasuke
Sasuke has already had two amazing matches tonight; can he make it three from three? Big stare down to start, as the crowd is white hot here. Benoit shows off his technical prowess early one but Sasuke shows he is no slouch either and keeps up with Benoit move for move. Chops in the corner from Benoit, man is he stiff with his chops they have to hurt. Sasuke goes for a suicide dive but Benoit moves out of the way. Head scissors gain Benoit control, not for long though as Sasuke counters to a surfboard. Arm drag from Sasuke and neither guy can gain any real control early on here. Benoit ends that though with a huge clothesline followed by a German, which gets him two. A pair of Spinning wheel kicks from Sasuke get him 1. Arm bar for Sasuke but Benoit manages his way out of it. All of the other wrestlers from this tournament are at ringside here. Sasuke counters a power bomb with an arm drag but Benoit gets another big clothesline. Benoit hangs him on the ropes with a suplex and hits a cross body from the second rope to the apron to take both men to the outside. Tiger suplex gets Benoit a very near fall. Swan dive head but gets the same result and the crowd pops big for the kick out. Big power bomb gets our third close near fall in about a minute. He is sick of near falls apparently and goes for a submission in the form of a sharpshooter, since he isnt Bret Hart though Sasuke doesnt tap. Tilt a whirl gets another two, as this is all Benoit. A missed dropkick gives Sasuke an opening however which he cant capitalize on as Benoit gets a German for yet another two. Cross body from the second rope begins Saukes comeback, same handspring dive over the ropes that we saw earlier only this time with an added twist at the end makes it even more impressive if that Is even possible. Sasuke gets a German of his own for two. That is followed up by a fishermans suplex, which sets up a top rope dropkick. That missed though allowing Benoit to regain control. Or not as Sasuke suplexes Benoit and himself out onto the concrete. This is an amazing match so far. Big dropkick to the outside kills Benoit. Not quite though as amazingly he manages to get up. Sasuke gets a moonsault but somehow Benoit keeps kicking out. A gutwrench suplex from the top rope gets Benoit the win. Wow that was one of the best endings to a match I have ever seen. Simply an amazing match to cap off an amazing show, they flew around the ring for 20 minutes barely stopping, The crowd has hot, the moves were crisp and the selling was spot on oh and the ending was fucking amazing. Simply an amazing match that every wrestling fan should see at least once. *****.
Overall: 9/10 This was an amazing tournament and it deserves all of the praise that is gets. We four ****+ matches including an all time classic from Benoit and Sasuke and only one truly bad match with everything else hovering around the *** mark at the least. This was just amazing stuff, especially from Sasuke who was by far the highlight of this tournament. Great stuff and I recommend that you go watch it right now.
Finally if you want to see this review as well as other reviews that I don't post here on WrestleZone then please visit my blog at http://mrbwrestlingreviews.blogspot.com/.
The idea here is simple NJPW got the 14 best cruiserweights from around the world and put them all into one single elimination tournament. This has been called the best display of cruiserweight wrestling ever and Dave Meltzer named it the show of the year for 1994, considering the years had by the WWF and WCW in 1994 there may not have been a hell of a lot of competition. Lets see if it lives up to that very high praise.
Your competitors are:
(SPWF) Masayoshi Motegi
(FMW) Hayabusa
(FMW) Ricky Fuji
(WAR) Gedo
(Michinoku Pro) Super Delfin
(Michinoku Pro) TAKA Michinoku
*(Michinoku Pro) The Great SASUKE
(New Japan) Negro Casas
(New Japan) Dean Malenko
(New Japan) Black Tiger (Eddie Guerrero)
*(New Japan) Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit)
(New Japan) Shinjiro Ohtani
(New Japan) El Samurai
(New Japan) Jushin THUNDER Liger
*These two have first round byes.
Anyway lets get on with the show.
Malenko vs. Gedo
Fairly weak stuff here, Malenko controlled the majority of this match showing off his technical prowess with Gedo only getting in some sporadic weak looking head-butts and chops. They cranked this way up at then end with Malenko even hitting a top rope cross body which surprised me. The ending came out of nowhere with Gedo getting a power slam that apparently has magical powers as it got eh win even though is looked a lot like Malenko kicked out at two. This was a decent match with a poor finish. My biggest criticism however is the wrong man won, Malenko controlled 90% of this and then Gedo hits a power slam? Not liking that. Decent match but nothing special **1/2.
Super Delfin vs. Shinjiro Ohtani
Good stuff here, both guys were working hard out there and the end result was a pretty good match, We got a nice mixture of highflying and technical mat based wrestling here which is always a good combination when done right. Ohtani impressed me here as he hit some really nice diving and springboard moves but also showed great prowess on the mat. The Delfin Clutch, which was used to pin Ohtani, is absolutely ridiculous though, not sure who thought that one was a good idea. Oh Delfins mask is awesome too. Good stuff ***1/4.
Taka Michinoku vs. Black Tiger (Eddie Guerrero)
Taka looks like a baby here, upon further review he was 21 here but he looks all of about 15. Eddie starts out with a hiss and a roar hitting a Senton, power bomb and neckbeaker in the space of about a minute. Off to an abdominal stretch which and sharpshooter and this is all Eddie in the early going. Taka takes control for the first time with a headlock before but Eddie is like fuck that and destroys with a massive clothesline. Taka goes for a moonsault but ends up just flipping off the top rope instead, he follows that up with a badly botched rana in what may have been his first real offense of the match. Taka hits big belly to belly, throwing Eddie halfway across the ring, followed by an outside dive, which looked great. Taka suplexes him back in and hits a German for two. Huge power bomb by Eddie gets two, that looked amazing. Frog splash gets two, I legitimately thought that was it. Another power bomb but this time by Taka also gets two, as does a moonsualt. He goes for a 2nd Moonsault but it eats knees. Brainbuster by Eddie get a very close 2 and a Tornado DDT ends Taka. That was good stuff as Eddie carried Taka to a pretty good match ***1/2
Masayoshi Motegi vs. El Samurai
We get a suicide dive straight away from Motegi. He tries to follow that up with a top rope cross body to the outside but he botches it falling of the top rope. That looked awful. Both men trade some stiff shots with Samurai winning that battle. A piledriver and back suplex both get 2 for El Samurai. We go to the mat for a bit with El Samurai again winning that battle. A tombstone gets 2 for Samurai and he gets a Suicide dive of his own. Motegi gets suplexed back in which Samurai follows up with a top rope drop kick. Apart from an early flurry El Samurai has dominated this. Right as I type that a power bomb from Motegi gets two. He locks on a surfboard, which is always a cool move. Rolling Germans get countered into a rollup for two for Samurai. El Samurai gets a German of his own for two and a power bomb ends this. Decent stuff here but nothing special. **3/4
Ricky Fuji vs. Negro Casas
Fuji looks like some kind of insane mixture of Bret Hart and HBK minus the amazing ring skills. He has he HBK pants and a Bret Hart esque ring jacket. We start off with some nice mat work with neither guy being able to get any kind of prolonged advantage. This lasts a while and is rather boring. Lots of headcissors and headlocks here as I am waiting for them to actually do something. Finally we are done with that as Negro gets some stiff sounding kicks and a clothesline for two. Fuji goes to work on the leg which gets him nowhere as Negro gets a springboard cross body to the outside which looked like it half missed. Back in with Fuji getting a backbreaker followed by a suplex for two. Out of nowhere a roll up gets two for Negro. He follows that up with a pair of Sentons, the second one missed though so Fuji hits some clotheslines followed up by a Tiger Bomb for a rather abrupt win. Uninteresting here as half of this was spent on the mat doing nothing and the other half just wasnt that good. The worst part of this though is that it means we will have to see more of Fuji later in the show and I dont think anyone wants that. **1/4.
HAYABUSA vs. JUSHIN "THUNDER" LYGER
Liger is way over here, as you would expect. Hayabusa gets a big flip out to the floor and a dropkick to the back of the head to start us off. He follows that up with a slam and a leg drop for two. He attempts to work on the leg but Liger has different plans and gets a figure four. Since this isnt a Flair match though the ropes are of course reached. Liger goes off with strikes, which he follows with a power bomb. Huge lariat gets two for Liger, this is rather good so far. Liger continues to work on the leg with something resembling an Indian Death lock. Rolling Liger Kick in the corner gets a nice pop but no cover, which is stupid. Instead though Liger hits a superplex, which gets a very close two. Hayabusa gets his first offense in a good while with a spin kick and dropkick for two. He follows that with a standing Senton, which also gets two. He gets a spinning wheel kick off the top and that looked awesome. Moonsault gets two as this is getting very good very fast. Another top rope spinning wheel kick, this time to the back of the head, gets us yet another near fall. Gut buster sets up a SSP but Liger rolled out of the way upon further review no he didnt as Haybusa just missed. Big Liger bomb gets two and shocks me as I thought that was it. Top rope dive is countered into an amazing looking Liger bomb and a fishermans Brainbuster ends this. This was a rather awesome match and the crowd being way into it helped. Both men got to show off for extended periods and it worked very well. The botched SSP is a shame but I can live with it. Best match of the night so far easily. ***3/4
Super Delphin vs. Gedo
Fuck, this is possibly the worst combination possible in this tournament. They realize this apparently and go for a comedy match with hair pulling, blatant overselling of chops, head-butts to the balls and other general tomfoolery. 
Surprisingly though the crowd are eating this up. Even the commentators laugh here. They get a bit more serious with Delfin hitting a big cross body to the outside. Back in and Delfin counters a rana into a roll up for a close two. Gedo gets the power slam he used to beat Malenko earlier for two. He gets a nice 2nd rope moonsault for two, as when they go serious these two arent too bad. Delfin gets a German for two followed up by a top rope elbow also for, you guessed it, two. Gedo missed a charge in the corner and oversells some more chops. Tornado DDT by Delfin but Gedo reverses the pin attempt into a rollup for the win. This wasnt horrible actually, the comedy bit was funny, the crowd was into it and when they decided to go serious they werent too bad. ***
Wild Pegasus vs. Black Tiger
To most wrestling fans this would be better known as Benoit vs. Eddie and that is how I will be referring to them. This should be awesome. We start with a really good technical sequence with both men getting momentary advantages. Eddie comes out of it with the advantage though as he stomps away and gets a Senton for no cover. Awesome back suplex does get a cover though and it of course gets two. Eddie follows that up with a head scissors but Benoit gets the ropes. Benoit gets a really nice reverse suplex, I love that move and I wish more people used it. That is followed up with a huge lariat to half kill Eddie. Big knee to the stomach as Benoit is really fast. Apparently he is working on the stomach as he dumps him on the ropes stomach first. A German gets two as does a big power bomb. Snap suplex but Eddie gets the ropes. Head scissors as they finally rest after going flat out all match so far. Benoit screams for the ref to ASK HIM, so thats where Jericho got it. Out of nowhere a rollup gets two for Eddie, he gets a rana and a German to take back control. Eddie locks on a Cobra Clutch for a while but Benoit counters a top rope dropkick by just moving out of the way, some times the simple counters are the best. Eddie gets out of a wristlock by jumping to the top rope and getting a rana. Another rana from the top gets a close two. Brainbuster and this is getting awesome very quick. Benoit counters a tornado DDT by throwing Eddie halfway across the ring. Benoit counters a cross body into what can be best described as an arm drag for the win. Awesome match but then again were you expecting anything else? These two could have a good match in their sleep and this was no exception. Great stuff here ****.
EL SAMURAI vs. THE GREAT SASUKE
Sasuke is way over, perhaps more so than Liger which is no mean feat. Samurai works on the leg to start this one off. Lots of nice technical work from both men with Samurai getting a slight advantage. Samurai continues the legwork and locks in a crazy looking submission. Samurai shows sound strategy and continues work on the leg of the highflyer. Sasuke takes to the outside to regroup. Back in and Samurai locks in an amazing looking submission, which sends the crowd into a frenzy. Sasuke hits a handspring back elbow, which he follows by handspringing over the fucking top rope onto Samurai. That was incredible. Samurai not wanting to be upstaged hits a big flip of his own to the outside. Back in and Samurai gets two on a German, which gets a huge reaction from the crowd. Diving head-butt also gets two and the crowd loves this. I cant say I blame them, as this is awesome. A power bomb is countered into a roll up for two for Sasuke. Sasuke gets a sunset flip power bomb for two. Samurai gets a power bomb of his own for the same result. The crowd is white hot here. A rana from Sasuke is countered into a rollup but Sasuke counters that into a rollup of his own for the win. Awesome match here with great technical stuff, amazing highflying and a white hot crowd, you cant ask for any more than that. Great stuff as this show is getting better and better with every match. ****1/4
RICKY FUJI vs. JUSHIN "THUNDER" LYGER
Gee I wonder who is winning this one? Liger comes out to an ovation, Fuji not so much. I will spare you the play by play, as this is just a foregone conclusion that Liger wins. Fuji was decent in this including some nice highflying and a sick power bomb on the outside but then again Liger could carry a broom to a passable match. Liger of course wins with a top rope hurricanrana. Decent match actually but the fact the ending was never in any doubt hurt it. ***1/4
Wild Pegasus vs. Gedo
They start off fast with Benoit knocking Gedo down to get the advantage. He gets a 2nd rope guillotine leg drop for two. Awesome looking chops in the corner from Benoit half kill Gedo. He misses a dropkick though, which allows Gedo to gain control. Gedo locks in a submission and yells ask him, Jericho approves. A piledriver gets two for Gedo. They fight over chops with Benoit winning by a mile. Gedo gets a dropkick, which sets up an awesome moonsault to the outside. The power slam from earlier has apparently lost the magical powers it had in the Malenko match as it only gets two. A tiger suplex gets the same result. Flying head-butt misses from Gedo misses to give Benoit control. Not for long though as Gedo counters a back suplex to a cross body for two. Benoit gets a big gutwrench power bomb for a close two. A regular power bomb sets up the swan dive head-butt and the win for Benoit. This was rather good actually, Gedo was interesting for once and he hit some nice stuff out there, Benoit was his usual awesome stuff and together they managed a pretty good match. ***1/2
Jushin Liger vs. The Great Sasuke.
Oh hell yeah, this should be great. They start off all quick and technical which gets a nice pop from the crowd. They fight over a pin with neither getting more than a 1 count. After some nice technical stuff Liger gets a surfboard, that move never fails to be awesome. He transitions from that into a cobra clutch. From out of nowhere he gets a rolling liger kick to take control of this match. That keeps Sasuke down a while, as he is either a really good seller or legitimately hurt, based on the refs reaction I am leaning towards the latter. Big jumping tombstone from Liger but instead of covering he gets a cross face chicken wing. Liger begins to go to work on the arm with some stomping and various submissions highlighted by an arm bar. Big back suplex and it would seem Sasuke is still reeling from the kick from earlier. Top rope dropkick is reversed by Sasuke into a dropkick of his own as he appears to be fine now. Big asai moonsault from Sasuke gets a huge reaction from the crowd as this is starting to pick up after a slowish start. They fight over a suplex but Sasuke just says fuck it and knocks Liger into the ring post sending him back to the outside prompting Sasuke to hit a beautiful somersault plancha. PIledriver gets two for Sasuke as does a sick looking Razors Edge power bomb. Ligers selling of that is awesome. Tombstone sets up a top rope Senton but that misses allowing Liger to regain control of this match. Huge Liger bomb gets two, my god that looked awesome. The crowd is way into this at this point. Big top rope rana hits but Sasuke counters the pin attempt into a pin of hit own for two. That only serves to piss Liger off though as he throws him halfway across the ring with a German. Fishermans buster gets only two to possibly the biggest crowd reaction of the night. Liger suplexes Sasuke to the outside, which he follows up with a big cross body from the top rope. Another rolling Liger kick but Liger turns his back allowing Sasuke to botch a springboard dropkick that looked bad. He gets a rana into a pin for the three count instead and the crowd erupts. Awesome match here as these two meshed together brilliantly. This was bordering on five start until the botch from Sasuke, still very good though. ****1/2
Wild Pegasus vs. The Great Sasuke
Sasuke has already had two amazing matches tonight; can he make it three from three? Big stare down to start, as the crowd is white hot here. Benoit shows off his technical prowess early one but Sasuke shows he is no slouch either and keeps up with Benoit move for move. Chops in the corner from Benoit, man is he stiff with his chops they have to hurt. Sasuke goes for a suicide dive but Benoit moves out of the way. Head scissors gain Benoit control, not for long though as Sasuke counters to a surfboard. Arm drag from Sasuke and neither guy can gain any real control early on here. Benoit ends that though with a huge clothesline followed by a German, which gets him two. A pair of Spinning wheel kicks from Sasuke get him 1. Arm bar for Sasuke but Benoit manages his way out of it. All of the other wrestlers from this tournament are at ringside here. Sasuke counters a power bomb with an arm drag but Benoit gets another big clothesline. Benoit hangs him on the ropes with a suplex and hits a cross body from the second rope to the apron to take both men to the outside. Tiger suplex gets Benoit a very near fall. Swan dive head but gets the same result and the crowd pops big for the kick out. Big power bomb gets our third close near fall in about a minute. He is sick of near falls apparently and goes for a submission in the form of a sharpshooter, since he isnt Bret Hart though Sasuke doesnt tap. Tilt a whirl gets another two, as this is all Benoit. A missed dropkick gives Sasuke an opening however which he cant capitalize on as Benoit gets a German for yet another two. Cross body from the second rope begins Saukes comeback, same handspring dive over the ropes that we saw earlier only this time with an added twist at the end makes it even more impressive if that Is even possible. Sasuke gets a German of his own for two. That is followed up by a fishermans suplex, which sets up a top rope dropkick. That missed though allowing Benoit to regain control. Or not as Sasuke suplexes Benoit and himself out onto the concrete. This is an amazing match so far. Big dropkick to the outside kills Benoit. Not quite though as amazingly he manages to get up. Sasuke gets a moonsault but somehow Benoit keeps kicking out. A gutwrench suplex from the top rope gets Benoit the win. Wow that was one of the best endings to a match I have ever seen. Simply an amazing match to cap off an amazing show, they flew around the ring for 20 minutes barely stopping, The crowd has hot, the moves were crisp and the selling was spot on oh and the ending was fucking amazing. Simply an amazing match that every wrestling fan should see at least once. *****.
Overall: 9/10 This was an amazing tournament and it deserves all of the praise that is gets. We four ****+ matches including an all time classic from Benoit and Sasuke and only one truly bad match with everything else hovering around the *** mark at the least. This was just amazing stuff, especially from Sasuke who was by far the highlight of this tournament. Great stuff and I recommend that you go watch it right now.
Finally if you want to see this review as well as other reviews that I don't post here on WrestleZone then please visit my blog at http://mrbwrestlingreviews.blogspot.com/.
