SavageTaker
Everybody Has A Price!
WCW/New Japan Supershow II
Date: January 4, 1992 (Aired March 1992)
Location: Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 60,000 (According to Wikipedia), 65,000 (according to Eric Bischoff).
Commentators: Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone
So I’ve decided to start reviewing some shows and this is the first one I decided to do. Notice that it’s the WCW/ New Japan Supershow II. Well, there is a first one but I won’t be able to do it because I didn’t find it at first. Then I did find it but ended up getting banned from the place I got the show from so I couldn’t download it. If I do find it again, I’ll add it in into this review thread. Anyways, like I said this is my first review so be gentle.
So we start off the show with Eric Bischoff. Wow, he looks really young and sounds very different. He tells us what the matches are going to be. He really needs to slow down. And now we go to the first match.
Jushin Liger, Masashi Aoyagi and Akira Nogami vs. Hiro Saito, Super Strong Machine and Norio Honaga
We hear the announcer is announcing the wrestlers names and Jim Ross points out that the Japanese announcer announces the last name of the wrestler first and the last name last. Finally, we start the match. Hiro’s team attacks Liger’s team. They all go to the outside and in the ring we have Hiro Saito and Aoyagi. Before I continue, I’d like to remind everyone that I do not know who any of these wrestlers are save for Liger so it’s kind of hard to keep up with who’s in the ring and who isn’t. Anyways, Ross tells us that Aoyagi is a mixed martial arts experts and he’s getting dominate so far. Hiro does some stuff such as kicks and some other basic moves and then tags in his partner Honaga. I hope the commentators keep on telling us who is in the match or else this will be very confusing. In the ring now we have Honaga who hits Aoyagi and connects. However, Aoyagi then hits him a couple of times and attempts to kick Honaga in the chest but he grabs his leg and starts moving towards his corner. Now Super Strong tags himself in. Apparently he’s a veteran. He picks up Aoyagi and Irish weeps him. Then he locks in a sleeper hold. Aoyagi sits down on the match and kicks Super in the head allowing him to escape the sleeper hold. Before tagging in one of his partners he gives Super a kick on the chest and he goes down on the match. Nogami enters and gives Super a few kicks and an elbow to his back. Super quickly grabs Nogami and does a belly-to-back suplex. He takes him to his corner and hits his head against the turnbuckle. Wow, those turnbuckles look really soft. He attempts to hit Nogami’s head against the turnbuckle but Nogami’s puts his foot on it to block it. He tries a third time and again Nogami puts his foot on it. Fourth time is a charm. Apparently what Super’s team did was moves the thing that was in the way of the steel. Honaga tags in and Irish weeps Nogami. On his way back he gets kicked in the mid-section. It appears as if Honaga is going to hit a suplex on him but he drops him on the top rope instead. Tony says that it was almost reminiscent of Stunning Steve Austin. Okay then… Anyways…So, for the rest of the match Hiro’s team was very dominating. Liger’s team seemed to only be able to get the upper hand when Liger entered the ring. Even then, he was caught with a nice spine buster from Hiro which gave them the upper hand back. At one point Liger hit’s a nice moonsault from the top rope. Later on, we see each team give one member of the other team some spike piledrivers. Towards the end, Liger’s team got the upper hand again. In the end, Nogami turns a full nelson into a dragon suplex to give his team the win.
Rating: I give it a B-. The match wasn’t bad at all, as a matter of fact it was solid, but I felt it could have been much better. The only parts I found entertaining were the parts Liger was in. Unfortunately though, he didn’t spend a lot of time in the ring which is disappointing since I was excited to see this match because of him. The other parts with the other wrestlers weren’t bad, but they weren’t that good either. Overall, it was a solid opener but I felt like it could have been better if it had involved Liger a bit more.
The winners celebrate their win as we go to Jim and Tony. Tony talks about the match and Jim talks about the next match. In the ring the 4 competitors in the next tag team match are getting introduced.
The Enforcers (Arn Anderson and Larry Zbyszko) vs. Michiyoshi Ohara and Shiro Koshinaka
Arn and Larry are representing the Dangerous Alliance here. Larry and Ohara are going to start this match. Jim Ross think that Zbysko is going to play some mind games early on with Ohara because Ohara has never wrestled in front of 65,000 people crowd. The commentators also point out that the Japanese crowds only react to unique times. Apparently, one thing they don’t like are mouthy Americans, well according to Jim anyways. They lock up and the referee makes them break it up. They lock up again but Ohara takes Larry down with an arm drag. Zbysko quickly gets back up. They lock up again. Later on Larry tries a drop kick but he misses. Arn is in now with a headlock . Ohara is able to get out of it and goes to his corner to tag in his partner, Koshinaka. He’s a very explosive athlete. Koshinaka had the upper hand for a little but Arn quickly got it back and is working the arm. He tags in Larry who rolls Koshinaka up but only gets a 2 count. Later on, Larry takes down Koshinaka and holds on to the leg. They are both back up now. Larry takes Koshinaka down again and now he tags in Arn. He Irish weeps him into the corner. Koshinaka reverses the Irish weep. Once Arn gets back up Koshinaka hits two super kicks. Arn runs to his corner to get away. They lock up. Ohara is now in. Arn drags him down with a knuckle lock. He kicks him in the chest. Apparently, in Japan they have two ringside announcers. Ohara takes down Arn with the knuckle lock still locked on. Arn is back up to a vertical base. Ohara hit’s a slam on Arn but he locks in a head scissors. Larry is now in the match and he takes Ohara down but Ohara locks in some submission hold. Larry is able to get out of it. They get back up and Ohara hit’s a Russian leg sweep. Koshinaka is back in and hit’s a suplex. Ohara enters and they do a double clothesline. Koshinaka continues to dominate, Zbysko hit’s a round kick takes him to his corner and tags in Arn. Arn does a couple of moves and quickly tags Larry back in. Larry does a vertical suplex. He goes for the pin and only gets a two count. Jim Ross again points out that the fans might think the fans live are bored but they aren’t. Arn is now in and locks in a Boston crab. Zbysko is back in again. He now has an abdominal stretch locked on Koshinaka. Arn pulls Larry hand and Ohara enters to tell him what they are doing. A youthful mistake. Arn tags in does and Irish weep but Koshinaka kicks him on his way back. He goes and tags in Ohara who quickly attacks Arn with a slam. He goes after Larry. He goes for the cover but only gets a two count. He hit’s a Russian Leg Sweep and goes for another cover but again a two account. Ohara has a Boston crab on Arn but Larry breaks it up. The fans start responding to Ohara when he does a few elbow drops on Arn. He goes to the top rope and connects with an elbow drop. Koshinaka is now in. He his a posterior bump on both of his opponents. Ohara is back in and does a suplex on Larry. He pins Larry but Arn is the legal man in the match. Arn Irish weeps Ohara but Zbysko kneed him in the kidneys. Arn hit the spin buster and gets a three count when he goes for the pin.
Rating: C-. Another solid, yet average match. The action was pretty good throughout the match but I felt like it could have been better. The commentators did a very good job here of explaining every little thing. For example, they explained why the crowds are so different when compared to American crowds. That was nice since most people would just assume that they were bored.
Larry and Arn leave and I just realized they have 3 different ramps. I’m guessing one of them is for everyone to enter through. The other two are probably used for the faces to leave via one of them and the other for the heels. Kind of like how TNA uses the tunnels. One for the faces and one for the heels. That’s what I assume though. We have Jim Ross and Tony talking to us again. They mention how Dusty Rhodes is coming out of retirement to team with his son, Dustin. I don’t know why he was in retirement, if someone knows why then feel free to tell us.
Dusty Rhodes and Dustin Rhodes vs. Masa Saito and Kim Dok
This is the first time that Dustin and Dusty teamed up in WCW. Jim Ross compared Saito and Dok to the Steiners. Dusty knows both of his opponents very well according to Tony because they’ve wrestled in America. Tony is pointing out wrestlers who were fathers and son who team together on occasion while we wait for the match to start. The bell rings. Dustin and Dok are going to start off the match. Tony is still pointing out dads and sons that have teamed together. Dustin takes down Dok. Dustin hit’s a slam and does a flying head scissors. Dustin takes down Dok with a dropkick. Dustin has control of the match for now. Jim tells us that Dok has been in some movies with Chuck Norris. Dok wants Saito to tag in but Saito tells him to keep going. Funny. Dustin and Dok keep going at it. Dok asks Saito to tag in again and he tells him to keep going again. Still funny. Dustin takes Dok to his corner and tags in his dad, Dusty. Dusty is now in the ring and he puts Dok into his corner. He wants Saito to come into the match. Saito is now in the ring. The crowd is coming alive. Jim tells us that they’ve had some brawls in the sunshine state of Florida and that they know each other very well. They lock up. Dusty hits Saito with an elbow to his head. He throws him to the outside. They are now on top of the ramp (they were using the elevated ramps that allowed them to get in the ring quickly) and slams him onto it. This is uncharacteristic of Dusty Rhodes says Tony. The referees is counting. He’s at nine but Tony reminds us that they go up to 20, not 10 like in America. Saito gets on his knee. He gets back up and extends his hand. He bowed and Dusty was going to bow too but Saito kicked him in the midsection. I guess that makes the team of Saito and Dok the heels in this match. Dusty is down and Saito is kicking him. Saito continues the attack on Dusty. Hair take down from Saito. Saito extends his hand to Dok to make the tag but he does not tag in. Headbutt to Saito from Dusty. But it does nothing to Saito. Dusty Irish weeps Saito and hits him with an elbow. Dusty is back in control for now. Suplex on Saito and he goes for the pin but Dok tried to stop it. Tony points out that it looked as if Saito had already kicked out and that they might be having some problems communicating. Dok is Korean and Saito is Japanese. That’s probably why they can’t communicate. Dok is now in the ring with Dusty. He has a nerve hold on him. Dusty is double teamed. He gets kicked in the midsection. Saito attempts to do a clothesline but Dusty moves out of the way so Dok gets nailed. Dusty quickly tags in Dustin who goes and attacks Saito while he’s turned around. He does a lariat and goes for the pin but Saito quickly kicks out. Saito is back in control now. Dok gets tagged in and they do a double suplex. Dok goes for the pin but the referee won’t count because Saito is still in the ring. Piledriver from Dok on Dustin. He does two pins and both pins get two counts. Both men back to a vertical base. Dustin tries a flying body press but misses. Dok hit’s a vertical suplex and goes for another pin. Again, he gets a two count. He puts Dustin in a nerve hold. Tony is praising the referee. Jim is now talking about baseball umpire’s. Dok goes to the top rope but Dustin gets up and throws him to the center of the ring. Dustin pins Dok again but doesn’t get the three count. Both men now tag in their partners. Dusty and Saito lock up and Dusty has the advantage for now. He tags Dustin in. Dustin gets hit with a suplex. Goes for the pin and gets a two count. Another suplex. Another pin but Dusty makes the save. Both men go down. Saito makes the tag to Dok. Dustin Irish weeps Dok and does a dropkick. He pins him but again, doesn’t get the three count. Dustin hit’s a bulldog and goes for the pin. Saito tries to stop it but Dusty quickly attacks him. Dusty and Dustin get the win here. After the match, a man hands them both trophies for their win.
Rating: I give it a B-. This was another solid match and so far my favorite. Dustin was only 21 yrs. Old in this match and he was pretty good. Not bad at all, and it was smart of them to keep Dustin in the ring longer since Dusty hadn’t wrestled in a while.
Big Van Vader vs. El Gigante
El Gigante is actually Giant Gonzalez from the WWF for those of you who didn’t know. Apparently. Gigante and Vader are no strangers to Japan. Cool. I knew Vader was famous in Japan, but I never knew Gigante wrestled in Japan. Anyways, the match starts with both men locking up. Tony points out that Vader used to wrestle with a mask. Gigante has Vade in the corner. Vader counters and puts him in the corner. Jim points out their backgrounds. Vader locks on a waistlock and takes Gigante down. Vader does a splash and goes for the pin. He gets a 2 count. Vader sends Gigante back to the corner and hammers at him. Gigante hit’s a big boots and starts firing back. Irish weep and Gigante does the Claw on Vader. The fans start waking up. Apparently, they were chanting for Vader. I just realized Bill Alfonso is the referee for this match. Clothesline for Vader. Gigante hit’s a shoulder block over the top rope on Vader and starts hammering. Vader is coming back with a few blows. They are still on the stage and apparently there’s a double count out and the match is over. After the match, Vader steamed Gigante’s face.
Rating: F-. This wasn’t really much of a match. It was short and bad. Worse part is that I felt the commentators were overselling what was going on. The match never really picked up and I’m not sure what the point of this really was. I guess they just wanted to put Vader on the show because he’s a big draw in Japan or they wanted to give the crowd a small break from the previous matches. This was just terrible, but thankfully it didn’t last very long.
Alright, so since my fingers are getting tired I’ve decided to post videos to the next two match. I’ll still be giving them a grade. Enjoy!
Lex Luger vs. Masahiro Chono for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Rating: C+. This is one of few matches I’ve seen of Luger and I have to say that it wasn’t really that bad. Like in the first two matches, there were some parts I liked and some that I didn’t. Also, I thought it was pretty cool that Chono was trained by Lou Thesz and wrestled him in his last match. I’m really liking the commentating here, mostly because I’m learning a lot of things that I never knew.
Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
It looks like we have a small change of plans. I couldn’t find this match on YouTube or Dailymotion and I really can’t review right now. Maybe I’ll re-watch it again tomorrow and edit in the match. But I will still give it a grade.
I thought it deserved an A. This match alone made me want to see more of Choshu’s work. It was great all around and had a lot of great action. If anyone can find it and they haven’t seen it, then do so. It’s a treat to watch.
Sting and The Great Muta vs. The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott)
Wow, Steiner looks very different. He should have stayed the way he looked when he teamed with Rick. He looked much better than “Big Poppa Pump.” Jim tells us that the promoters spent over 1 million dollars on the entranceway, the lights, e.t.c. Muta had a pretty cool entrance. Muta enters the ring and shakes hands with Sting. Bill Alfonso is going to be the referee for this match. The fans reacted when Muta took headpiece he was wearing off and showed the paint the was wearing. The fans react again when he sprays the blue mist. Scott hit’s a spine buster on Muta. They are very quick at the beginning. Muta tags in Sting and Scott tags in Rick. Rick is dominating so far. He goes to the top rope and hit’s a bulldog. He goes for the pin and gets a two count. He runs towards Sting but Sting hit’s a clothesline. Sting takes control of the match now. Sting went for the scorpion according to Jim, I thought it was called the Stinger Splash. Anyways, Rick tags in Scott. Scott quickly enters the ring and hit’s a nice powerbomb on Sting. However, he does not go for the pin. Instead, he picks him up and Irish weeps Sting. He does a tilt the whirl I believe it is. He pins him now and only gets a two count. Now Scott sets Sting up on the position for the tombstone piledriver but Sting reverses it and hit’s a tombstone piledriver. He gets up and drops an elbow on Scott. He goes for the pin but Rick brakes it up. Muta tags in the match and is still in control. Scott takes control and hit’s a suplex. Rick is in the match now. He puts Muta on the top rope and goes up with him. He does a nice belly-to-belly suplex from the top rope. He picks Muta up and does a belly-to-back suplex. He goes for the pin and Muta kicks out at two. He tags in his brother now. Scott is dominating so far. He puts Muta on the top rope and does a crucifix off the top rope. He locks in a dragon sleeper. He puts Muta on his shoulder. Rick goes to the top rope and does an elbow drop on Muta. Rick is now the legal man in the match. He goes for a pin and gets a two count. Rick goes for another cover but Muta quickly kicks out. Rick tags in Scott. He does a bell-to-belly on Muta. He throws him to the outside. Rick hit’s a belly-to-belly on the outside. Muta is back in the ring. He does a side suplex and tags in Sting. Sting and Scott are now in the ring. Rick tags himself in. He throws Rick to the corner and does a Stinger Splash. Muta tags in and Irish Weeps Rick to ther corner. He goes for some moves but Rick caught him and hit a gut wrench suplex. All four men in the ring. Muta and Sting do a double bulldog on Rick. Sting throws Muta into Rick and they both go to the outside. Now Sting goes to the top rope and leaps off onto Rick. On the outside, Scott attacks Sting. Muta now throws himself over the top and nails Scott. Now Muta and Sting go back into the ring. While they are turned around, both Steiners start climbing the ropes. They jump onto both men. Scott does a tilt to whirl on Sting but Sting reverses and does the pin and goes for the three count. Wait! Rick also pinned Muta and both got three counts. Although Sting clearly got the three count on Scott first, there’s some confusion. Eventually, Sting and Muta are crowned the winners. Jim thinks that the referee made a bad call because Rick was the actual legal man in the match. Oh well.
Grade: A. Very good match and it’s probably my favorite or second favorite of the night. Great action throughout the entire match and I’d recommend for anyone to watch it. Just a great match overall despite the controversy at the end.
Overall Grade: Overall, I’d have to say that the show deserves either a B+ or A-. Most of the matches were solid to great. The only thing I didn’t like was the Vader and Gigante match, but like I said in the review, it wasn’t very long so that doesn’t affect the show’s rating much. For anyone who was thinking about watching the show, do so. It’s pretty good from top to bottom. My favorite matches were obviously the last two, but the other matches were solid, like I said.
The show ends with a recap of everything and Eric Bischoff telling us to watch some pay per view.
Well, that’s my review, I hope you all enjoyed. Feel free to give me some feedback and constructive criticism. Also, if you’ve seen this show, give us your thoughts.
Date: January 4, 1992 (Aired March 1992)
Location: Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 60,000 (According to Wikipedia), 65,000 (according to Eric Bischoff).
Commentators: Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone
So I’ve decided to start reviewing some shows and this is the first one I decided to do. Notice that it’s the WCW/ New Japan Supershow II. Well, there is a first one but I won’t be able to do it because I didn’t find it at first. Then I did find it but ended up getting banned from the place I got the show from so I couldn’t download it. If I do find it again, I’ll add it in into this review thread. Anyways, like I said this is my first review so be gentle.
So we start off the show with Eric Bischoff. Wow, he looks really young and sounds very different. He tells us what the matches are going to be. He really needs to slow down. And now we go to the first match.
Jushin Liger, Masashi Aoyagi and Akira Nogami vs. Hiro Saito, Super Strong Machine and Norio Honaga
We hear the announcer is announcing the wrestlers names and Jim Ross points out that the Japanese announcer announces the last name of the wrestler first and the last name last. Finally, we start the match. Hiro’s team attacks Liger’s team. They all go to the outside and in the ring we have Hiro Saito and Aoyagi. Before I continue, I’d like to remind everyone that I do not know who any of these wrestlers are save for Liger so it’s kind of hard to keep up with who’s in the ring and who isn’t. Anyways, Ross tells us that Aoyagi is a mixed martial arts experts and he’s getting dominate so far. Hiro does some stuff such as kicks and some other basic moves and then tags in his partner Honaga. I hope the commentators keep on telling us who is in the match or else this will be very confusing. In the ring now we have Honaga who hits Aoyagi and connects. However, Aoyagi then hits him a couple of times and attempts to kick Honaga in the chest but he grabs his leg and starts moving towards his corner. Now Super Strong tags himself in. Apparently he’s a veteran. He picks up Aoyagi and Irish weeps him. Then he locks in a sleeper hold. Aoyagi sits down on the match and kicks Super in the head allowing him to escape the sleeper hold. Before tagging in one of his partners he gives Super a kick on the chest and he goes down on the match. Nogami enters and gives Super a few kicks and an elbow to his back. Super quickly grabs Nogami and does a belly-to-back suplex. He takes him to his corner and hits his head against the turnbuckle. Wow, those turnbuckles look really soft. He attempts to hit Nogami’s head against the turnbuckle but Nogami’s puts his foot on it to block it. He tries a third time and again Nogami puts his foot on it. Fourth time is a charm. Apparently what Super’s team did was moves the thing that was in the way of the steel. Honaga tags in and Irish weeps Nogami. On his way back he gets kicked in the mid-section. It appears as if Honaga is going to hit a suplex on him but he drops him on the top rope instead. Tony says that it was almost reminiscent of Stunning Steve Austin. Okay then… Anyways…So, for the rest of the match Hiro’s team was very dominating. Liger’s team seemed to only be able to get the upper hand when Liger entered the ring. Even then, he was caught with a nice spine buster from Hiro which gave them the upper hand back. At one point Liger hit’s a nice moonsault from the top rope. Later on, we see each team give one member of the other team some spike piledrivers. Towards the end, Liger’s team got the upper hand again. In the end, Nogami turns a full nelson into a dragon suplex to give his team the win.
Rating: I give it a B-. The match wasn’t bad at all, as a matter of fact it was solid, but I felt it could have been much better. The only parts I found entertaining were the parts Liger was in. Unfortunately though, he didn’t spend a lot of time in the ring which is disappointing since I was excited to see this match because of him. The other parts with the other wrestlers weren’t bad, but they weren’t that good either. Overall, it was a solid opener but I felt like it could have been better if it had involved Liger a bit more.
The winners celebrate their win as we go to Jim and Tony. Tony talks about the match and Jim talks about the next match. In the ring the 4 competitors in the next tag team match are getting introduced.
The Enforcers (Arn Anderson and Larry Zbyszko) vs. Michiyoshi Ohara and Shiro Koshinaka
Arn and Larry are representing the Dangerous Alliance here. Larry and Ohara are going to start this match. Jim Ross think that Zbysko is going to play some mind games early on with Ohara because Ohara has never wrestled in front of 65,000 people crowd. The commentators also point out that the Japanese crowds only react to unique times. Apparently, one thing they don’t like are mouthy Americans, well according to Jim anyways. They lock up and the referee makes them break it up. They lock up again but Ohara takes Larry down with an arm drag. Zbysko quickly gets back up. They lock up again. Later on Larry tries a drop kick but he misses. Arn is in now with a headlock . Ohara is able to get out of it and goes to his corner to tag in his partner, Koshinaka. He’s a very explosive athlete. Koshinaka had the upper hand for a little but Arn quickly got it back and is working the arm. He tags in Larry who rolls Koshinaka up but only gets a 2 count. Later on, Larry takes down Koshinaka and holds on to the leg. They are both back up now. Larry takes Koshinaka down again and now he tags in Arn. He Irish weeps him into the corner. Koshinaka reverses the Irish weep. Once Arn gets back up Koshinaka hits two super kicks. Arn runs to his corner to get away. They lock up. Ohara is now in. Arn drags him down with a knuckle lock. He kicks him in the chest. Apparently, in Japan they have two ringside announcers. Ohara takes down Arn with the knuckle lock still locked on. Arn is back up to a vertical base. Ohara hit’s a slam on Arn but he locks in a head scissors. Larry is now in the match and he takes Ohara down but Ohara locks in some submission hold. Larry is able to get out of it. They get back up and Ohara hit’s a Russian leg sweep. Koshinaka is back in and hit’s a suplex. Ohara enters and they do a double clothesline. Koshinaka continues to dominate, Zbysko hit’s a round kick takes him to his corner and tags in Arn. Arn does a couple of moves and quickly tags Larry back in. Larry does a vertical suplex. He goes for the pin and only gets a two count. Jim Ross again points out that the fans might think the fans live are bored but they aren’t. Arn is now in and locks in a Boston crab. Zbysko is back in again. He now has an abdominal stretch locked on Koshinaka. Arn pulls Larry hand and Ohara enters to tell him what they are doing. A youthful mistake. Arn tags in does and Irish weep but Koshinaka kicks him on his way back. He goes and tags in Ohara who quickly attacks Arn with a slam. He goes after Larry. He goes for the cover but only gets a two count. He hit’s a Russian Leg Sweep and goes for another cover but again a two account. Ohara has a Boston crab on Arn but Larry breaks it up. The fans start responding to Ohara when he does a few elbow drops on Arn. He goes to the top rope and connects with an elbow drop. Koshinaka is now in. He his a posterior bump on both of his opponents. Ohara is back in and does a suplex on Larry. He pins Larry but Arn is the legal man in the match. Arn Irish weeps Ohara but Zbysko kneed him in the kidneys. Arn hit the spin buster and gets a three count when he goes for the pin.
Rating: C-. Another solid, yet average match. The action was pretty good throughout the match but I felt like it could have been better. The commentators did a very good job here of explaining every little thing. For example, they explained why the crowds are so different when compared to American crowds. That was nice since most people would just assume that they were bored.
Larry and Arn leave and I just realized they have 3 different ramps. I’m guessing one of them is for everyone to enter through. The other two are probably used for the faces to leave via one of them and the other for the heels. Kind of like how TNA uses the tunnels. One for the faces and one for the heels. That’s what I assume though. We have Jim Ross and Tony talking to us again. They mention how Dusty Rhodes is coming out of retirement to team with his son, Dustin. I don’t know why he was in retirement, if someone knows why then feel free to tell us.
Dusty Rhodes and Dustin Rhodes vs. Masa Saito and Kim Dok
This is the first time that Dustin and Dusty teamed up in WCW. Jim Ross compared Saito and Dok to the Steiners. Dusty knows both of his opponents very well according to Tony because they’ve wrestled in America. Tony is pointing out wrestlers who were fathers and son who team together on occasion while we wait for the match to start. The bell rings. Dustin and Dok are going to start off the match. Tony is still pointing out dads and sons that have teamed together. Dustin takes down Dok. Dustin hit’s a slam and does a flying head scissors. Dustin takes down Dok with a dropkick. Dustin has control of the match for now. Jim tells us that Dok has been in some movies with Chuck Norris. Dok wants Saito to tag in but Saito tells him to keep going. Funny. Dustin and Dok keep going at it. Dok asks Saito to tag in again and he tells him to keep going again. Still funny. Dustin takes Dok to his corner and tags in his dad, Dusty. Dusty is now in the ring and he puts Dok into his corner. He wants Saito to come into the match. Saito is now in the ring. The crowd is coming alive. Jim tells us that they’ve had some brawls in the sunshine state of Florida and that they know each other very well. They lock up. Dusty hits Saito with an elbow to his head. He throws him to the outside. They are now on top of the ramp (they were using the elevated ramps that allowed them to get in the ring quickly) and slams him onto it. This is uncharacteristic of Dusty Rhodes says Tony. The referees is counting. He’s at nine but Tony reminds us that they go up to 20, not 10 like in America. Saito gets on his knee. He gets back up and extends his hand. He bowed and Dusty was going to bow too but Saito kicked him in the midsection. I guess that makes the team of Saito and Dok the heels in this match. Dusty is down and Saito is kicking him. Saito continues the attack on Dusty. Hair take down from Saito. Saito extends his hand to Dok to make the tag but he does not tag in. Headbutt to Saito from Dusty. But it does nothing to Saito. Dusty Irish weeps Saito and hits him with an elbow. Dusty is back in control for now. Suplex on Saito and he goes for the pin but Dok tried to stop it. Tony points out that it looked as if Saito had already kicked out and that they might be having some problems communicating. Dok is Korean and Saito is Japanese. That’s probably why they can’t communicate. Dok is now in the ring with Dusty. He has a nerve hold on him. Dusty is double teamed. He gets kicked in the midsection. Saito attempts to do a clothesline but Dusty moves out of the way so Dok gets nailed. Dusty quickly tags in Dustin who goes and attacks Saito while he’s turned around. He does a lariat and goes for the pin but Saito quickly kicks out. Saito is back in control now. Dok gets tagged in and they do a double suplex. Dok goes for the pin but the referee won’t count because Saito is still in the ring. Piledriver from Dok on Dustin. He does two pins and both pins get two counts. Both men back to a vertical base. Dustin tries a flying body press but misses. Dok hit’s a vertical suplex and goes for another pin. Again, he gets a two count. He puts Dustin in a nerve hold. Tony is praising the referee. Jim is now talking about baseball umpire’s. Dok goes to the top rope but Dustin gets up and throws him to the center of the ring. Dustin pins Dok again but doesn’t get the three count. Both men now tag in their partners. Dusty and Saito lock up and Dusty has the advantage for now. He tags Dustin in. Dustin gets hit with a suplex. Goes for the pin and gets a two count. Another suplex. Another pin but Dusty makes the save. Both men go down. Saito makes the tag to Dok. Dustin Irish weeps Dok and does a dropkick. He pins him but again, doesn’t get the three count. Dustin hit’s a bulldog and goes for the pin. Saito tries to stop it but Dusty quickly attacks him. Dusty and Dustin get the win here. After the match, a man hands them both trophies for their win.
Rating: I give it a B-. This was another solid match and so far my favorite. Dustin was only 21 yrs. Old in this match and he was pretty good. Not bad at all, and it was smart of them to keep Dustin in the ring longer since Dusty hadn’t wrestled in a while.
Big Van Vader vs. El Gigante
El Gigante is actually Giant Gonzalez from the WWF for those of you who didn’t know. Apparently. Gigante and Vader are no strangers to Japan. Cool. I knew Vader was famous in Japan, but I never knew Gigante wrestled in Japan. Anyways, the match starts with both men locking up. Tony points out that Vader used to wrestle with a mask. Gigante has Vade in the corner. Vader counters and puts him in the corner. Jim points out their backgrounds. Vader locks on a waistlock and takes Gigante down. Vader does a splash and goes for the pin. He gets a 2 count. Vader sends Gigante back to the corner and hammers at him. Gigante hit’s a big boots and starts firing back. Irish weep and Gigante does the Claw on Vader. The fans start waking up. Apparently, they were chanting for Vader. I just realized Bill Alfonso is the referee for this match. Clothesline for Vader. Gigante hit’s a shoulder block over the top rope on Vader and starts hammering. Vader is coming back with a few blows. They are still on the stage and apparently there’s a double count out and the match is over. After the match, Vader steamed Gigante’s face.
Rating: F-. This wasn’t really much of a match. It was short and bad. Worse part is that I felt the commentators were overselling what was going on. The match never really picked up and I’m not sure what the point of this really was. I guess they just wanted to put Vader on the show because he’s a big draw in Japan or they wanted to give the crowd a small break from the previous matches. This was just terrible, but thankfully it didn’t last very long.
Alright, so since my fingers are getting tired I’ve decided to post videos to the next two match. I’ll still be giving them a grade. Enjoy!
Lex Luger vs. Masahiro Chono for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Rating: C+. This is one of few matches I’ve seen of Luger and I have to say that it wasn’t really that bad. Like in the first two matches, there were some parts I liked and some that I didn’t. Also, I thought it was pretty cool that Chono was trained by Lou Thesz and wrestled him in his last match. I’m really liking the commentating here, mostly because I’m learning a lot of things that I never knew.
Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
It looks like we have a small change of plans. I couldn’t find this match on YouTube or Dailymotion and I really can’t review right now. Maybe I’ll re-watch it again tomorrow and edit in the match. But I will still give it a grade.
I thought it deserved an A. This match alone made me want to see more of Choshu’s work. It was great all around and had a lot of great action. If anyone can find it and they haven’t seen it, then do so. It’s a treat to watch.
Sting and The Great Muta vs. The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott)
Wow, Steiner looks very different. He should have stayed the way he looked when he teamed with Rick. He looked much better than “Big Poppa Pump.” Jim tells us that the promoters spent over 1 million dollars on the entranceway, the lights, e.t.c. Muta had a pretty cool entrance. Muta enters the ring and shakes hands with Sting. Bill Alfonso is going to be the referee for this match. The fans reacted when Muta took headpiece he was wearing off and showed the paint the was wearing. The fans react again when he sprays the blue mist. Scott hit’s a spine buster on Muta. They are very quick at the beginning. Muta tags in Sting and Scott tags in Rick. Rick is dominating so far. He goes to the top rope and hit’s a bulldog. He goes for the pin and gets a two count. He runs towards Sting but Sting hit’s a clothesline. Sting takes control of the match now. Sting went for the scorpion according to Jim, I thought it was called the Stinger Splash. Anyways, Rick tags in Scott. Scott quickly enters the ring and hit’s a nice powerbomb on Sting. However, he does not go for the pin. Instead, he picks him up and Irish weeps Sting. He does a tilt the whirl I believe it is. He pins him now and only gets a two count. Now Scott sets Sting up on the position for the tombstone piledriver but Sting reverses it and hit’s a tombstone piledriver. He gets up and drops an elbow on Scott. He goes for the pin but Rick brakes it up. Muta tags in the match and is still in control. Scott takes control and hit’s a suplex. Rick is in the match now. He puts Muta on the top rope and goes up with him. He does a nice belly-to-belly suplex from the top rope. He picks Muta up and does a belly-to-back suplex. He goes for the pin and Muta kicks out at two. He tags in his brother now. Scott is dominating so far. He puts Muta on the top rope and does a crucifix off the top rope. He locks in a dragon sleeper. He puts Muta on his shoulder. Rick goes to the top rope and does an elbow drop on Muta. Rick is now the legal man in the match. He goes for a pin and gets a two count. Rick goes for another cover but Muta quickly kicks out. Rick tags in Scott. He does a bell-to-belly on Muta. He throws him to the outside. Rick hit’s a belly-to-belly on the outside. Muta is back in the ring. He does a side suplex and tags in Sting. Sting and Scott are now in the ring. Rick tags himself in. He throws Rick to the corner and does a Stinger Splash. Muta tags in and Irish Weeps Rick to ther corner. He goes for some moves but Rick caught him and hit a gut wrench suplex. All four men in the ring. Muta and Sting do a double bulldog on Rick. Sting throws Muta into Rick and they both go to the outside. Now Sting goes to the top rope and leaps off onto Rick. On the outside, Scott attacks Sting. Muta now throws himself over the top and nails Scott. Now Muta and Sting go back into the ring. While they are turned around, both Steiners start climbing the ropes. They jump onto both men. Scott does a tilt to whirl on Sting but Sting reverses and does the pin and goes for the three count. Wait! Rick also pinned Muta and both got three counts. Although Sting clearly got the three count on Scott first, there’s some confusion. Eventually, Sting and Muta are crowned the winners. Jim thinks that the referee made a bad call because Rick was the actual legal man in the match. Oh well.
Grade: A. Very good match and it’s probably my favorite or second favorite of the night. Great action throughout the entire match and I’d recommend for anyone to watch it. Just a great match overall despite the controversy at the end.
Overall Grade: Overall, I’d have to say that the show deserves either a B+ or A-. Most of the matches were solid to great. The only thing I didn’t like was the Vader and Gigante match, but like I said in the review, it wasn’t very long so that doesn’t affect the show’s rating much. For anyone who was thinking about watching the show, do so. It’s pretty good from top to bottom. My favorite matches were obviously the last two, but the other matches were solid, like I said.
The show ends with a recap of everything and Eric Bischoff telling us to watch some pay per view.
Well, that’s my review, I hope you all enjoyed. Feel free to give me some feedback and constructive criticism. Also, if you’ve seen this show, give us your thoughts.
