The Puro Review: NJPW: Super J Cup ‘94

My name is Jake, and I am a puroresu fan. ‘Puroresu’ means Japanese wrestling is all it’s forms, from the refined wrestling goodness of NJPW and AJPW to the trashy hardcore federations like FMW, and everything in between. In my reviews I’m going to sit down and take you through shows from all the federations in Japan and highlight their historical significance as well as review them. If you have never been exposed to puroresu, then read my reviews and you will find out how to break into it over time.

As far as my ratings system goes, I use percentage scores instead of the more conventional stars because it gives me more scope and I can differentiate between one ***** match and another. Matches will gain points on how much they entertain me, how well the wrestlers work, and how well they integrate psychology into the match.

With that out of the way, enjoy this review…

NJPW: Super J Cup ‘94

In 1994, the New Japan Pro Wrestling juniors division was at its peak, the wrestlers featured in it were all of quality, and, under the booking of Jyushin ‘Thunder’ Lyger, were getting hugely over on their own terms, not as being a second-class version of heavyweights. Also at this time, an awful lot of upstart promotions were beginning in Japan, so Lyger decided to help them out and make a load of money for his own promotion with the Super J Cup. He invited the top juniors from all these federations, and entered himself and his own New Japan guys as well to create an all star, historical, line-up. This is also one of the tapes people always tell you to get if you want to get into puroresu, but we’ll decide that for ourselves at the end.

The show takes the form of a one night, elimination style tournament, if you get beaten you are knocked out of the tournament and your opponent moves on to the second round. This should not be confused with any of the Best Of The Super Juniors tournaments, held each year, or the J Crown, which was taped in 1996.

The participants are as follows: Dean Malenko, Shinjiro Ohtani, Black Tiger (who is Eddie Guerrero under a mask, by the way), El Samurai, Negro Casas, Jyushin ‘Thunder’ Lyger and Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit’s Japanese identity) from NJPW. Super Delphin, TAKA Michinoku and The Great Sasuke from Michinoku Pro (known as North Eastern Wrestling in Japan). Ricky Fuji and Hayabusa from FMW, Gedo from WAR and Masayoshi Motegi from I’m not sure where. Wild Pegasus and The Great Sasuke get let through the first round and instantly into the quarter-finals, for reasons known only to Lyger. With the formalities out of the way, lets get started…

FIRST ROUND

Dean Malenko vs. Gedo

Yay, Deano is in the house… Gedo rushes in and tries a lariat, but Deano out-manoeuvres him on all fronts and dropkicks him out of the ring. Gedo takes a rest before getting back into the ring and they head into some standing reversals. Deano pulls a swifty and flips out of an arm-wringer to attack the legs. Gedo tries to escape the leg lock by pulling the hair, to fit his heelish personality, and tries a jujigatame, but Deano is too strong. Back to standing base and Deano pulls some flippy stuff out of an arm wringer, but gets reversed, so Deano comes back with a headscissors takedown for a stand-off. Gedo grabs a leg and works it in well, before Deano reverses with a jujigatame attempt, but Gedo is too strong. Escape is attempted, but Deano does not let go until Gedo manages to reverse it for some more mat stuff. Gedo decides he cannot beat Deano on the mat, so he goes for some strikes, but Dean is all like ‘I can beat you here as well’, and beats down Gedo for a sharp elbow and a two count. Chinlock, but Gedo escapes by raking the eyes and headbutts Deano, before Dean takes control again and smacks Gedo’s head against the post. Jackhammer gets 2.9 and Dean heads into some more mat work. Gedo reverses though, with an STF variant, but Dean makes the ropes. They punch the snot out of each other, but Gedo gets whipped for a double shoulderblock, and its a double KO until Dean tries a tombstone. Gedo reverses it though, hits the tombstone and goes up top, but he misses the diving headbutt! Dean looks tired, but takes advantage with a NICE lariat for 2.999! Gedo manages to reverse a whip, but Dean slips out and on to the top rope for a high cross body for another 2.999! Dean looks pissed, but Gedo manages to reverse a whip and gets a desperation powerslam out of nowhere for the win!

The emphasis on this match was on Gedo, whose heelish tactics throughout this bout set his character up in the audiences eyes. The fluke win, which came after Dean had beat him around for ages, and featured Dean getting his shoulder up JUST after the three count, set up all the other fluke wins Gedo would have throughout this tournament, and indeed, the following years. The fans knowledge that Gedo could win even after being beaten up by his opponent made his matches throughout this tape highly heated and formed the idea that Gedo could beat anyone. The match itself was a good mix of smooth mat work and a nice little hot ending, but there wasn’t much time given to build anything hugely constructive, and the whole thing was a little slow… 57%

Super Delphin vs. Shinjiro Ohtani

Ohtani attacks just as the opening bell sounds with a dropkick to the knee, and drags Delphin into the centre of the ring for a VICIOUS leg lock! Great start! Delphin tries to punch Ohtani to escape, but Ohtani is all like ‘if you try that I’ll punch your lights out, I don’t want to though because I’m honourable, but I will’. Delphin tries a couple of other escapes, but Ohtani wants to tear that leg off, and so knee drops it and puts him in an even nastier leg lock. After each attempt at escape, Ohtani does something else to inflict slightly more pain on Delphin to punish him for his desperate efforts, but Delphin eventually makes the ropes. It’s no rest for people with stupid masks tonight though, as Ohtani beats the cartilage out of the leg in the middle of the ring, as if to say ‘the ropes wont help you now boy’. Ohtani’s satanic smile says it all as he locks Delphin into a single leg crab, but the ropes are made. Ohtani foolishly chooses a headlock, but Delphin shoots him off, only to take a shoulderblock. They run the ropes again though, another bad choice by Ohtani, which allows Delphin to hit his SWEET dropkick. Delphin celebrates like an idiot, before whipping Ohtani for a poor tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. No pin because they ended up in the ropes, so Delphin tries the move again, but Ohtani slips out and hits a roundhouse kick. Delphin is whipped for a HARSH leg lariat, sending him out of the ring. Ohtani climbs the turnbuckle to try a plancha, but Delphin sees him and moves round the other side of the ring to escape. Ohtani is all like ‘come in here to get your ass kicked again, go on, I want you to’, and he makes a superb heelish move by holding the ring ropes open for Delphin, and inviting him in for the ass kicking. Delphin doesn’t fall for it, but Ohtani attacks him when he enters the ring anyway, kicking the bones out of that leg again. Single leg boston crab is locked in again, but Delphin makes the ropes again. Ohtani is pissed, so he chokes Delphin in the corner for refusing to give up. Back in the middle of the ring, Ohtani lays into that leg again, but Delphin takes advantage of Ohtani’s growing frustration and escapes. Delphin is all ‘you were stiff to me, now it’s your turn’, and hits a HARSH backdrop, which only gets 2 Ѕ, but Delphin continues the onslaught with an EVIL brainbuster for 2.9! The brainbuster is tried again, but Ohtani slips out and hits him with a dropkick to send him outside, and follows with a huge springboard plancha! Ohtani damn sure ain’t waiting this time, and SHOVES Delphin back into the ring before hitting a SWIFT springboard dropkick for 2 ѕ. An EVIL dropkick to the leg follows and Ohtani locks on a leg grapevine! Delphin is in huge pain, but just manages to make the ropes! Ohtani doesn’t care though, and drags Delphin back to the middle for another leg grapevine! He must tap out! The fans get behind Delphin, shouting his name, and he manages to JUST make the ropes! Ohtani kicks the leg, but makes the mistake of whipping Delphin into the corner. Ohtani charges, but Delphin blocks his two punches and SLAPS him for the TORNADO DDT! The Delphin clutch is locked in, and that’s all she wrote for Ohtani!

Absolutely CLASS match, they weren’t given loads of time, but they did so much with what they had. Ohtani is one of the most entertaining wrestlers ever in my eyes, his heelish stuff is godlike, and he is stiff as hell. The work on the leg here was breathtaking and remorseless, really drawing you into the match and making you truly believe that Delphin would tap. Delphin himself played his role to perfection with wonderful and dynamic selling techniques. He is a little goofy though, with the Delphin clutch especially being a completely absurd move which possesses no heat whatsoever. Overall, a stunning match, perhaps should have been saved for later on in the tournament, and given slightly more time, but I’ll definitely take what I’m given… 84%

Black Tiger (Eddie Guerrero) vs. TAKA Michinoku

They kick off with some standing switches, and Tiger gets the upper hand with a snapmare and follows up with a heelish face-rake and the slingshot senton into the ring! An early powerbomb gets 2 ѕ and Tiger goes on treating TAKA like his bitch with strikes and a neckbreaker for another 2 ѕ. Tiger works in an abdominal stretch, TAKA looks like he’s about to escape, so Tiger lariats him and pounds away before locking in a scorpion deathlock. TAKA struggles free, although it looked more like a mess up than that, and manages to run the ropes, resulting in them both hitting the other with shoulderblocks. TAKA is up first, which doesn’t make any sense, since he’s the one that’s been beaten down, and puts him in a headlock. He gets in some horribly weak looking offence before Tiger takes control again and hits a MANLY lariat. They run the ropes in speedy fashion, and TAKA gets a chance to show the high flying stuff by missing a top-rope springboard moonsault press and landing on his feet. Headscissors takedown sends Tiger outside and TAKA goes for the springboard plancha but Tiger moves so TAKA does the back-flip again to pop the crowd. Tiger spends an age resting on the outside before coming back in and battering TAKA in the corner. He tries it again, but TAKA does the back-flip yet again out of the corner and hits a SWIFT belly-to-belly suplex and a dropkick to send Tiger outside. He hits the top rope springboard plancha, although it looked a little shoddy and tries to suplex Tiger back in the ring, but he lands on his feet. Standing switch, and TAKA hits a german suplex for 2 Ѕ and a good looking ‘rana-rollup, which barely even got a 2 count, due to Tiger’s poor timing it seemed. TAKA gets whipped, and tries another ‘rana, but takes a HARSH powerbomb for 2.9! Slam, and Tiger goes up for a really awful frog-splash, bagging him another 2.9. Tiger tries another slam, but TAKA leaps and gets a victory roll for 2 ѕ and hits an odd thunderfire powerbomb for 2.8. Moonsault only just gets a 2 count, and the second one hits knees in a nasty fashion, before Tiger takes advantage and hits a brainbuster for 2.999! Tiger goes up, and the tornado DDT finishes him.

I don’t even know exactly why, but this match felt really disjointed somehow, TAKA was pulling out some half-decent high-flying stuff, but his ability to work a match at this point was in question. Tiger was not into making this a good match, as he selfishly no sold a lot of what TAKA did. The psychology was all really off as well, Tiger’s timing on the pins was bizarre, and the match was generally not exciting at all really. Having said that though, the bits where Tiger put the effort in were solid enough, and the whole thing wasn’t exactly offensive to watch or anything… 28%

Masayoshi Motegi vs. El Samurai

Motegi attacks before the bell, but that’s been done one too many times already during this tournament and so the crowd don’t even really acknowledge it. Samurai ends up outside, and Motegi hits a tope suicida to get the crowd vaguely excited. Motegi tries to climb the turnbuckle in a speedy fashion for a plancha, but falls down, much to the audiences amusement. The fat headed idiot. Back in the ring, they head into some basic juniors mat work stuff before Motegi slaps him and Samurai retaliates with a decently stiff punch. A piledriver gets Samurai an early 2 Ѕ, and he follows up with a backdrop for another. Boston crab, a pointless move as it was not backed up by any leg work, but it’s reversed by Motegi for a rubbish pinfall reversal sequence. These guys are just not Eddie G. More juniors matwork, which is really pointless in this match as it only seems to serve as a resting point for the wrestlers, until Samurai gets a nice tombstone for 2 ѕ. Motegi tries to fight back with elbow strikes, but walks right into a SWANK reverse suplex variant for another 2 ѕ. They severely mess up a spot where Samurai is supposed to miss a dropkick, so they repeat it and Samurai dumps Motegi outside in order to his a tope suicida of his own. Motegi breaks up the flow of the match even further by taking ages to get back on the apron, and Samurai suplexes him into the ring and heads up top for a perfect missile front-dropkick for 2 Ѕ. Samurai tries a ‘rana, but gets powerbombed for 2 ѕ and Motegi breaks out the good stuff with a rolling mexican surfboard segued into a surfboard / reverse chin-lock combination (© Jyushin Lyger). It goes nowhere though, as Samurai barely even looks hurt, and Motegi runs into him for 2 Ѕ. More decent stuff, as Motegi breaks out the rolling germans, but the third one is reversed by Samurai for 2 ѕ. They head into standing switches, and Samurai hits a german for yet another 2 ѕ and the thunderfire powerbomb finishes for Samurai.

Motegi is absolutely dull, totally average in concept and execution, all he’s got are a couple of decent moves. Samurai isn’t exactly hugely interesting to watch either, with not a huge amount to distinguish him from the massive sea of juniors available, although he is a solid enough performer. Since these two average guys tried to wrestle an average juniors match, and didn’t succeed due to numerous mess-ups, poor matwork, and dull high-flying, I cannot rate this highly at all… 23%

Ricky Fuji vs. Negro Casas

Fuji’s music is great… Casas gets a dropkick and a snapmare into a chinlock, which he holds on to until they do some standard juniors matwork, but they soon go back to the standing base. They get right back into it though, going straight to the mat for yet more dull mat work, all very solid, but all very similar to the last couple of matches. Casas breaks out of it with kicks and a weak lariat for 2, but Fuji takes him back to the mat until Casas breaks out of it again with a slam and the energetic senton for another 2. A dropkick sends Fuji outside, and Casas follows up with a dodgy looking springboard plancha. This is a dull match folks, as the wrestlers in it would suggest. Back in, Casas chops, but it met with a rubbish looking backbreaker and a double axe-handle for 2 Ѕ. Suplex gets 2 ѕ and Fuji tries another one, but gets dumped, and Casas breaks out la majistral to wake up the crowd… but it gets one. A one count, for crying out loud, it’s not like this is going too well as it is. Snapmare, and Casas hits the second rope senton for 2 ѕ, but misses on the second attempt. Fuji hits a couple of lariats, a couple of kicks and a perfect tiger driver for the win.

That was the least heated, most pointless load of juniors rubbish I’ve ever seen. The fact is, this card is slowly getting more and more dull for the crowd, one juniors match on a card is a good break in proceedings, and usually a highlight on a show, but with loads together things get a little dull. Each match features extremely similar matwork, with the same mix of chinlocks, headlocks and transitional moves every time. Usually it’s pretty pointless as no one seems to work on a particular limb or whatever, it’s just time filling stuff, entertaining time filling stuff, but still pointless in the context of the match. Oh yeah, the match… 15% Anyway, it’s Lyger up next, so I’m alright…

Jyushin ‘Thunder’ Lyger vs. Hayabusa

Hayabusa rushes Lyger to start, sending him out of the ring with a roundhouse kick, and following up with a summersault plancha! See, that worked, unlike Motegi’s rushing in the last match, because Lyger is Lyger, and attacking him in a disrespectful manner will really make the fans sit up and listen. Hayabusa hits a stiff kick, then shoves Lyger back in for a GREAT missile front dropkick to the back of his head! Disrespectful stomps segue into a disrespectful surfboard and Hayabusa hits a slam and a leg drop for 2. Attacks to Lyger’s leg follow, but Hayabusa hits his own leg by missing a knee drop, and Lyger is all like ‘if you think you can work on my leg, watch this, punk’, and hits a STIFF dropkick to Hayabusa’s leg. Lyger locks in the figure four immediately, but the ropes are made, so Lyger unleashes the SLAP FLURRY to make the punk his bitch. Lyger stalks him, before hitting a powerbomb for 2 ѕ and locking Hayabusa’s legs into a nice hold which puts Lyger in a good position to watch his opponent squirm. He tries escape with slaps, but Lyger SLAPS back, and pulls him up for a nice lariat, getting another 2 ѕ. Lyger pulls him up, just to knock him down again, and locks on a leg grapevine, but Hayabusa escapes. He’s all like ‘oops, I’ve bit off more than I can chew’, and puts Lyger in a headlock, only to be backdropped out of it. Lyger stalks him, before whipping him into the corner for the LYGERKICK~! More stalking, and Lyger hits him with a superplex for 2.9! Hayabusa is angry at himself for not respecting the king of juniors, but he’s being stalked, and Lyger is only biding his time before smacking his opponent with nasty kicks and chops. Hayabusa is whipped, but manages to tip-up out of the corner and duck a lariat. Dropkick gets 2, and a lovely leg lariat followed with a summersault senton get 2 Ѕ. Missile leg lariat gets 2 ѕ, and Hayabusa is all about ending this one as quickly as possible as he hits a slam and the moonsault, but it only bags him 2 ѕ. Hayabusa goes up again, and tries to leap backwards on to Lyger for a ‘rana, but they mess it up… damn, that would have been the best spot ever… They’re both a bit dead, but Hayabusa recovers first and goes up… only to mess up the stardust press and have Lyger unleash the beast with a LYGERBOMB for 2.999! He stalks him one last time, and puts Hayabusa up top, follows him for the hurricanrana… but Hayabusa hits him off and leaps for a diving ‘rana… but Lyger reverses that into a HARSH powerbomb! Lyger says ‘that’s all’, and puts him out of his misery with the fisherman’s buster!

Lyger is all about subtlety, in everything he does, his movements, expressions and matwork, you can see the same character come through. Here it was one of disgust, he came across as being horrified Hayabusa would disrespect him by attacking him like a punk in the early stages of the match. For me, every moment Lyger is on offence is HUGELY entertaining, I love the man, and could watch him do his thing for days. Hayabusa played his role very well too, the punk-like attack was done brilliantly, and he showed, by only attempting finishers, that he wanted to beat Lyger, he had nothing else to prove here. However, it was Hayabusa’s mess ups that would drag this match down slightly… 75%

QUARTER FINALS

Super Delphin vs. Gedo

I don’t like the prospects for this match, I cannot remember these guys pulling out a great match for some reason, but we shall see… Delphin comes out, and after dealing with Ohtani, he seems more confident, and more aware of the heelish behaviour he will have to deal with in this match. Delphin even uses heelish stuff himself in the early going, landing a single leg boston crab, and standing on Gedo’s head during the hold. Gedo then does the same thing, but takes an enzuiguri, and Delphin tries some of that NJ juniors matwork. They break out of it with strikes, Gedo takes control and taunts the crowd, but Delphin is all like ‘I’m sick of heelish behaviour, now it’s your turn’, and low-blows Gedo, taunting afterwards. Delphin gets some heelish chokes, but gets shot off a headlock and they head into a rope running sequence. Delphin gets a nice headscissors take over from it, but another rope running sequence later and Gedo is back in control with a dropkick. Delphin hits his SWEET dropkick, sending Gedo out of the ring, and strikes the Delphin-pose. Back in, and Delphin continues to get heelish with punches, but Gedo hits him with an atomic drop and some neat kicks. Delphin is trapped into an arm-surfboard thing, but runs Gedo into the post and hits a dodgy suplex for 2 Ѕ. Slicing neckbreaker gets 2 ѕ and they head into a chopping sequence, Gedo wins it, but Delphin hits him with the dropkick to send him outside, and follows up with a neat plancha from the top rope! Back in, Gedo is whipped and Delphin charges, but meets boot and feels a lariat for 2 Ѕ. Gedo tries a slam, but Delphin leaps up for a victory roll, getting another 2 ѕ and Gedo whips him for the powerslam which beat Dean, but it only gets 2.8 this time! Slam, and a dodgy second rope moonsault gets another 2.8. He whips Delphin, but the fishy one comes back with a crucifix cradle for 2.9! Harsh backdrop, with added bridge, gets 2.999 and Delphin heads up for an elbow, getting another 2.999! Gedo reverses a whip into the corner, but meets boot off the charge, and Delphin sits up top. Gedo comes at him with punches, but Delphin blocks them and SLAPS Gedo, just like he did Ohtani, for the TORNADO DDT! Delphin clutch is… but no! Gedo rolls him up out of the setup for the victory!

What a fantastic finish, no one saw that rollup coming, and, just like Dean Malenko, Delphin kicked out split seconds after the three count. These two guys took the time and effort to build carefully out of their previous matches on the show and surprised me by having nearly no pointless juniors matwork. Delphin is REALLY growing on me, his selling is pretty fantastic and he can pop the crowd. The only odd thing about this bout was Delphin’s heel mannerisms. It was done very well, but I wasn’t fully sure of the point of including them since Delphin was being knocked out and Gedo is over as a heel. Weird. Anyway, good match, nothing spectacular, but with these two I was not expecting anything thrilling, they did the absolute best they could… 71%

Black Tiger (Eddie Guerrero) vs. Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit)

These two are all in each others faces to start, must be some sort of running feud between these two New Japan guys… Juniors reversals into typical juniors matwork to start, the advantage going either way, before Tiger works on the leg a bit and does the face scraping bit. Slam precedes the slingshot senton, and Tiger follows up by just stomping on Pegasus’ chest with his boots! I like. A nasty backdrop, but it’s early so it only gets him 2 Ѕ, and Tiger goes back to the mat with a crossover headscissors. Pegasus makes the ropes, but is kicked and whipped for THE SPEED BUMP~! Tiger tries a suplex, but Pegasus squirms out and hits a neat reverse suplex to gain control. Tiger is whipped and they run the ropes for a bit until Pegasus manages to decapitate him with a lariat and tries the suplex to the floor to show his hatred for his opponent. Tiger reverses and suplexes him into the ring, but Pegasus gets free and, after reversals, dumps Tiger with a flapjack. The kitchen sink is nailed home, and Tiger gets dumped on the ropes before being taken out with a NASTY german suplex for just 2. Tiger still has no timing, and this match will go badly if he doesn’t improve soon. Hard powerbomb gets 2 Ѕ for Pegasus and the best damn snap suplex in the business gets another 2 Ѕ when Tiger gets his foot on the ropes. Snapmare leads directly to the standard junior crossover headscissors… This is really doing nothing for me, Benoit seems to be just hitting big moves and going for covers, while mixing in some of that pointless matwork. Guerrero is not really selling anything, and is not helping matters with his timing… Tiger makes the ropes, and Pegasus pounds away and whips him for another kitchen sink, but Tiger reverses it SWIFTLY into a rollup for 2! Tiger is whipped, but hits a nice ‘rana on the rebound! This is picking up a little as Tiger hits a german suplex for 2 Ѕ and locks in a camel clutch. Tiger soon gives up on that though as Pegasus ain’t tapping and hits him with a fallaway slam. Tiger goes up but gets dumped off an attempted missile dropkick, and takes the HARSH backdrop of Benoit. They work in a pinfall, and then go back to a standing position for some test of strength workings. Tiger busts out of that though, and fires off a damn impressive springboard ‘rana- rollup for 2 ѕ… should have got more. Tiger puts him up top for the hurricanrana, getting 2.9! Much better. Tiger hits the BRAINBUSTER and calls for the tornado DDT… He pulls Pegasus up, but it’s reversed and Tiger gets shoved half-way across the ring on his face! Pegasus says ‘that’s all’ and puts Tiger up top for the ‘rana, but gets shoved off himself, and Tiger leaps off the top for something… but Pegasus grabs him and smacks him against the mat from mid-air and pins him for the victory!

Good ending, but not a great deal else. The neat work and swift execution that we expect from Benoit and Guerrero was present here, but they are not anywhere near as developed workers as they would become. Benoit has no character, and that isn’t an exaggeration, and for me, it really harms his matches as there is nothing backing up the stuff he does. Guerrero’s Japanese character is not the bitchy heel that he played in the Los Gringos Locos, or later in WCW, and is a little dull as well. As a result, what we got here was a simple, but well executed, juniors match, not enough for a high rating, especially with Eddie’s lucha-esque ‘near’ falls… 64%

The Great Sasuke vs. El Samurai

They head right into the matwork stuff to start, and Sasuke fires off a lucha-snapmare to show his speed and agility is superior to Samurai’s. Back to the mat and they work each other over in fine style with Samurai trying get a jujigatame, and Sasuke trying to work the legs, but they soon end up in the ropes and go back to the vertical base. Samurai is all sick of the pointless stuff, and starts stiffly kicking the leg of Sasuke and drops him to the mat for a toe hold. He works Sasuke into a crossover leg hold / neck crank combination (© Jyushin Lyger) and dumps the leg harshly into the mat. Sasuke manages to get out of the ring for a rest but he rolls back in, straight towards a slam for 1. Samurai grabs the leg from behind and locks in a nice STUMP PULLER variant but they soon roll into the ropes and Sasuke escapes the ring again. Back in, Samurai pounds away and hits a backdrop for 2 Ѕ and follows up with MONSIEUR SALTY~! The crowd get behind Sasuke, and the smaller man breaks out of the hold, but is taken back to his feet by the evil Samurai and chopped. Sasuke fires back with chops of his own though, and fires off a HANDSPRING ELBOW to send Samurai outside! Sasuke lines up… SPACE FLYING TIGER DROP! The crowd goes mental for Sasuke! Sasuke gets back in the ring first, and grabs Samurai from the apron and tries to suplex him in, but Samurai lands on his feet and runs to the ropes… but Sasuke responds with a STIFF leg lariat for 2! Samurai is whipped, and manages to hit a NICE lariat of his own on the rebound and a dropkick to send Sasuke outside for the summersault plancha! Sasuke takes ages getting back in the ring, but when he does, Samurai is waiting for him with a whip and a MANLY german suplex for 2.8! Slam, and Samurai goes up and connects with a DIVING HEADBUTT for 2.999! Sasuke is slowly picked up and Samurai sets him up for the thunderfire powerbomb, but Sasuke reverses with a ‘rana-rollup for 2.999! Sasuke slams Samurai, and immediately goes up top, but Samurai is already following him and gets underneath him on the turnbuckle… but Sasuke twists round and hits a FANTASTIC sunset flip off the turnbuckle for 2.9999! Sasuke charges but MISSES the leg lariat! Samurai says that’s all and hits the THUNDERFIRE POWERBOMB for 2.99999!! Samurai charges and hits a ‘rana-rollup, but Sasuke rolls him through and pins him for the victory!

That was pretty damn good stuff right there. Samurai played a decent heel in the early going, taking Sasuke down with a load of decent matwork on the leg, before Sasuke made a textbook face comeback which the crowd REALLY got into. This match is very comparable to Ohtani vs. Delphin earlier in the tape for me, as both represent great face vs. heel scenarios. This version, however, drops a few points on the earlier match because Samurai did not go back to the leg in the later stages of the match and the early leg work had no significance in the match. Sasuke is THE MAN though, so that makes up for it… 80%

Jyushin ‘Thunder’ Lyger vs. Ricky Fuji

Once again, I’m not liking this pairing, but Delphin / Gedo surprised me so I’m going to give this one a chance as well… Fuji looks focused, seriously praying to something on the way to the ring for the win in this match. Lyger is calm as always, staring Fuji down easily. They start off with standing switches, but soon move into… yep, you guessed it, juniors matwork… but they do mix in a bit of flipping for the fun factor which is nice. They do a test of strength, which Lyger wins after Fuji puts up a bit of defence, by Fuji manages to roll Lyger up for 1 before they break apart again. Lyger grabs a headlock, but gets shoved off and dumped outside for a pescado. Fuji looks a lot more confident after that, and powerbombs Lyger on the floor! He gets back in, and celebrates, before Lyger gets in and is whipped into a back elbow for another 1 count. Snap suplex, and Fuji head sup top, but he leaps off right into a lariat from Lyger, and we have a double KO. Hmm, the crowd do not seem into this, like they can’t accept Fuji controlling Lyger or something… I wonder why. They both stand up, but Lyger has more energy… odd, because he’s been being beaten up so far… and hits a face-crusher and follows up by throwing Fuji out to the floor. Slam on the concrete, and Lyger leaps up on to the top rope and delivers a DOUBLE FOOT STOMP FROM THE TOP ROPE TO THE FLOOR!! Well, that woke the crowd up! Lyger got revenge, and more, for the powerbomb on that exchange. They get back into the ring, and Lyger just stands him up for a vicious LYGERKICK~! Lyger hits a NASTY powerbomb, and an arrogant cover gets 2 ѕ. He stalks Fuji, and hits a release german suplex when he stands up for another 2 ѕ before whipping him into the corner and hitting him with a dropkick to the face. Fuji is put up top, and Lyger follows him for the superplex, but Fuji reverses in mid-air and lands on top of Lyger for 2 ѕ of his own. Lyger is now put up top, and Fuji just dropkicks him off the turnbuckle to send him outside and he follows up with a baseball slide. Lyger gets back in, but Fuji still controls with a backdrop for yet another 2 ѕ and puts Lyger up top again. Fuji follows him up, but gets SLAPPED off the turnbuckle, and Lyger lands a dodgy diving ‘rana for the pin.

Guh, Fuji is terrible, he managed to have a less than decent match against Lyger for crying out loud. Lyger himself tried his best with some wonderful moves and decent psychology, but Fuji just had none of it and continued with his boring offence that the crowd did not like. This was a dodgy match then, but that foot stomp probably earned it an extra 10% at least… 44%

SEMI-FINALS

Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit) vs. Gedo

Gedo grabs a headlock to start, but gets shot off. He hits a shoulderblock on the rebound though, and they run the ropes resulting in Gedo taking a slap from Pegasus and being whipped for a decapitating lariat! Neckbreaker, and Pegasus leaps up top, hitting a diving legdrop for 2.9! Gedo takes a punch and sells it very well before Pegasus lays in the chops harshly. Gedo gets whipped, but holds on to the ropes, making Pegasus miss the dropkick, and casually walks over to Pegasus and locks in the GEDO-SUBMISSION~! Pegasus makes the ropes quickly, but Gedo snapmares him and locks the hold back on! Pegasus sells it well, and inches to the ropes to escape the dreaded hold. Piledriver gets 2 Ѕ for Gedo and he follows up with a chinlock for a rest. Gedo drives his fingers into Pegasus’ throat before raking his eyes and inciting the wrath of the referee. A HARSH kick to the back of Pegasus sets him up for some chops, but of course Pegasus comes back with chops of his own and whips Gedo. He’s reversed though, and Gedo hits a dropkick off the rebound to send Pegasus outside and he follows up with a moonsault press from the turnbuckle to the floor! Back in, the POWERSLAM gets 2 ѕ and a northern lights suplex gets 2.9! Gedo hits a dodgy lariat, and goes up top, but he misses the diving headbutt and Pegasus tries the nasty backdrop. Gedo reverses in mid-air though, and drops on top of Pegasus for another 2.9! Back up, Pegasus gets a desperation kick and whips Gedo into the corner, but the charge is ducked. They reverse each others german attempts, but Pegasus comes out of it with a powerbomb for a 2.9 of his own! Pegasus drags him into the middle of the ring for another powerbomb, but he doesn’t cover him, preferring to put the exclamation point on it with a BEAUTIFUL swan-dive headbutt for the victory!

Who would have thought that Benoit would have a better match with Gedo than with Guerrero, but here is the evidence! They kicked it off well at the start and just beat the heck out of each other for the entire match resulting in lots of fun. Gedo’s slightly heelish actions may have been the only bit of psychology really present, but with Benoit showing shades of an emerging character and the whole thing being a fast-paced and well fought contest, this comes out as a damn entertaining match… 71%

Jyushin ‘Thunder’ Lyger vs. The Great Sasuke

Oh baby, now this one should be fantastic if Lyger controls most of the thing and allows Sasuke to play face-in-peril… Lyger walks to the middle of the ring with his refined stroll, looking casual the whole time, while Sasuke bounces around him, obviously nervous. They hook up and Sasuke tries for the leg, but they head into some speedy junior reversals until they break apart at Sasuke’s beckoning, he knows Lyger is better than him. Lyger offers a test of strength, and Sasuke foolishly accepts and gets dominated straight away by being taken down to the mat and locked into a great inverse mexican surfboard. Lyger bench-presses Sasuke up above him several times to say ‘I’m stronger than you’, before Sasuke powers out and puts him in the crossover leg-hold / neck-crank combination that is very Lyger-esque. Sasuke grabs the arm and pulls him to his feet for an arm-drag and tries to get a jujigatame, but Lyger reverses and grabs the leg, rolling Sasuke over into the LYGER-SPECIAL~! He lets him go and carefully locks him into a mexican surfboard, grabbing Sasuke’s head while he is in the hold and bending him backwards viciously, forcing Sasuke all the way upside down! Lyger stalks him, and follows up by whipping him into a fine tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for 2. Sasuke is turned over for a NASTY camel clutch, with Lyger really wrenching the hold in. Sasuke powers out, and Lyger stalks him, waiting for the right moment when Sasuke just reaches his feet to hit the LYGERKICK~! Lyger wants to beat him up more, but the referee wont let him, so Lyger stands back, observing the carcass he has created and flicking his hair nonchalantly. Really good selling of the beatdown here, making us believe Sasuke is seriously tired already. Sasuke eventually makes it to his feet, and Lyger grabs his head and just lays in a HUGE PUNCH! They do the referee selling of it again, more briefly this time, before Lyger comes right to him and drops him with a vicious tombstone. Sasuke is dead, but Lyger is all like ‘it would be too easy to pin you, I want to make you submit’, and locks in a CROSS-FACE CHICKENWING~! Sasuke screams in pain but Lyger lets him go, and stalks him some more while he clutches his arm. Lyger picks him up by the arm, wrenches it round, and hits a STIFF arm-breaker! Sasuke hits the floor like a ton of bricks, but Lyger just picks him up and hits another arm-breaker. This is a slaughter, and I’m loving it. Lyger puts him in a hammerlock, and rolls him on to the floor in the hold in order to WRENCH on the hammerlock even further! Lyger just pulls at that arm in frustration, having a fit, trying desperately to get the tap out! Sasuke is almost unconscious from the pain, but Lyger is unrelenting, and pulls the arm out straight, steps over, and locks on a jujigatame! He lets him go once again though, as Sasuke ain’t tapping, folds the arm against the mat, and stamps on it to further his opponents pain. Lyger lifts him up by the arm and hits another arm-breaker… but he segues it straight into an unexpected and nasty backdrop, landing Sasuke partially on the arm as well! Slam, and Lyger goes up, having obviously realised that Sasuke really isn’t going to tap out tonight, and he comes off with a dropkick… but Sasuke hits him with a dropkick in mid-air instead! Lyger is sent outside, and Sasuke gets on the apron. He kicks Lyger to keep him at bay and hits a massive QUEBRADA! The crowd go nuts for Sasuke’s comeback! Sasuke sells the arm and takes a much needed rest. Lyger gets up on the apron, but Sasuke meets him and tries to suplex him in, he fails though, and smacks Lyger’s head against the turnbuckle instead to send Lyger back outside. Sasuke lines him up, and runs up the turnbuckle to hit a SENTON ATOMICO to the floor! Lyger gets back in, and Sasuke lays in several nasty knee-drops to him, before standing Lyger up and whipping him into a leg-lariat for 2 Ѕ! Piledriver gets another 2 Ѕ before Sasuke pulls him to his feet and hits THE BEST THUNDERFIRE POWERBOMB EVER for 2.9!! Lyger took that move beautifully. Sasuke tries to pick up the now dead Lyger, but he can’t so he just legdrops the back of his head and hits a tombstone instead. He slowly goes outside and climbs the turnbuckle but MISSES senton atomico! Sasuke rolls right though to his feet though, and takes off towards the ropes, but Lyger ducks his lariat, and hits one of his own for 2.9! He pulls him up and hits the LYGERBOMB for 2.999! Lyger staggers around, trying to gain back his composure, and once he has, picks up Sasuke and puts him on the top rope. Lyger follows him up and hits the HURRICANRANA for 2.9… But Sasuke rolls him through just like he did to El Samurai earlier for 2.999! Lyger checks with the referee that he didn’t just lose, in a nice touch, before hitting Sasuke with a NASTY released german suplex for 2.9999! Lyger picks up the absolutely dead Sasuke, and slowly whips him, kicks him and hooks him up for the FISHERMAN BUSTER… but it only gets 2.9999!! Lyger pauses to think of what he can do to put away Sasuke now, and decides to really lay in the pain, dragging Sasuke to the ropes and actually hitting a suplex from the ring to the floor! Lyger leaps up top and follows with a huge plancha on to Sasuke! Lyger recovers in the ring, not really believing that Sasuke will go down to the count-out like many others would, before Sasuke manages to crawl up on to the apron. LYGERKICK nearly sends Sasuke flying back off the apron, but he stands up again as Lyger is saying ‘that’s all’, and Lyger turns round into a… oops, Sasuke just fell off the ropes when he was attempting a springboard based move, perhaps to sell the tired-ness, but I severely doubt it… Lyger laughs at him and points, but it gives Sasuke the time to fire off a ‘rana-rollup for the victory!!

Well that was superb! Lyger is THE ONE TRUE GOD and Sasuke is THE MAN. Lyger offered a real man’s beating in his trademarked gorgeous fashion and Sasuke took it all like a champion. The attack on the arm was relentless and seriously cool, and Lyger’s mannerisms were just wonderful to watch as they always are. Sasuke didn’t sell as well as he could, as he used the arm to slingshot himself off the ropes several times after the attack, but he didn’t hit any big moves with it, so it doesn’t really matter too much. Also, the mess-up at the end was a real shame. But these were two points in an otherwise entertaining and stunningly well worked match, creating one of my favourite bouts of all time… 91%

TOURNAMENT FINAL

Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit) vs. The Great Sasuke

They start off with a tie-up and a few standing reversals, with Pegasus trying for a dragon suplex it seems. Sasuke gets outmanoeuvred in the wrestling stakes, but every time Pegasus tries something, Sasuke flips his way out of it, showing his advantage in speed. Pegasus is all ‘fair enough, I may not be able to do moves on you yet, so I’ll wear you down with strikes first’, and chops Sasuke in the corner. Sasuke reverses the whip though, and runs up Pegasus in the corner before leaping and flipping out of Pegasus’ stuff again, and sending him out of the ring with a spinning back kick. Sasuke charges, but Pegasus saw and moves before the plancha can occur. Back in, Pegasus manages his snapmare, and gets him in a headscissors, but Sasuke reverses and surfs him, before segueing into a nice bow and arrow lock. Sasuke continues to control and hits an arm drag, but Pegasus no sells and they have another stand off. Test of strength suggested by Pegasus, and Sasuke accepts only to be kicked and whipped. They run the ropes in spectacular fashion, resulting in Pegasus hitting a NASTY lariat! German suplex gets 2 ѕ and he whips Sasuke, only to take a leg lariat on the rebound and Sasuke follows up with another. Slam, and an EVIL legdrop get 2 Ѕ, and they work in the pin until Sasuke decides to try a jujigatame, but he fails to get it and Pegasus pounds away while the camera man shows pictures of all the wrestlers watching at ringside. Pegasus lifts him for a powerbomb, but Sasuke escapes with a SWIFT reversal only to be cut down with another stiff lariat from Pegasus! Sasuke gets dumped across the ropes and pounded while he stands on the apron, before Pegasus gets bored and leaps from the second rope inside the ring all the way to Sasuke on the apron with a HUGE cross body, which takes both to the floor below! Back in, Pegasus slaps on the full nelson, and, after being denied the dragon suplex once, hits the thing for 2 ѕ! They should have built that move up more before having him hit it… Slam, and Pegasus goes up and hits the SWANDIVE HEADBUTT for 2.9! Powerbomb gets another 2.9 and Pegasus looks surprised, mildly. Another slam, and Pegasus locks in the scorpion deathlock, but lets Sasuke go soon after as he really isn’t going to tap. Pegasus whips Sasuke for a NASTY tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and whips him for a dropkick, but Sasuke holds on to the ropes and Pegasus misses! Pegasus is whipped this time, and Sasuke tries a tilt-a-whirl but fails so he hits Pegasus with a lariat anyway! Sasuke charges, but misses the lariat and walks right into a german suplex for 2.999! Pegasus locks in the full nelson again, but Sasuke drops down and reverses with a rollup… but Pegasus stops him halfway through the rollup and pins for yet another 2.9! Sasuke gets whipped to the corner, but bounces out of it with a spinning cross body and follows up with another back heel kick to send Pegasus outside! Sasuke looks very tired, but he cannot resist and bounces himself into a SWEET SPACE FLYING TIGER DROP, modified by switching the final moonsault into a twisting senton! Absolutely beautiful! Back in, Sasuke still has control, and hits him with another back heel kick before firing off a german for 2.999! Fisherman’s suplex gets another and Sasuke slowly climbs a turnbuckle… but misses a dropkick just like Black Tiger earlier against Pegasus! Sasuke tries climbing the turnbuckle again, but gets caught and pounded. Pegasus tries the suplex into the ring, but Sasuke blocks it and hits a suplex from the ring to the floor on Pegasus! Back in, Sasuke hits him with a standing dropkick, sending Pegasus out once again, and Sasuke hops up the turnbuckle and hits a MISSILE DROPKICK TO THE FLOOR! That was spectacular, but enough of the unnecessary spots now… The other Michinoku Pro guys encourage Sasuke, along with, interestingly, Lyger. They get back in, and Sasuke hits him with a spinning kick before hitting another slam and a twisting splash for 2.999! Sasuke goes up top again, and Pegasus follows, but gets elbowed back into the ring. Sasuke is going to go for the senton atomico but Pegasus catches him up there again and climbs up to hit a PERFECT gutwrench suplex for the win!

That was probably the best example of a standard juniors match I’ve ever seen, both guys worked extremely hard and did a whole lot of really cool stuff with each other, everything was executed perfectly and the whole thing was just really high quality work. However, as far as I could tell, there was precious little psychology to be found here. Like, Sasuke’s shoulder was murdered by Lyger in the match just before this, yet Pegasus didn’t even attempt to attack that arm in any serious way. They just didn’t build on what had happened in the tournament before this at all, which just seems very, very weird to me. Having said that, I am told that this match was a tribute to, and built on the matches between, Tiger Mask Sayama and Dynamite Kid, who are Sasuke and Benoit’s heroes respectively. I have not seen those matches, so I cannot comment on this, but, whether they succeeded in emulating their heroes successfully, which would have helped my perception of the match if I could see that they did, then they still should have entered their own psychology to create their own match, not just copying someone else’s. In short, this was an amazing match, but one hampered by a lack of internal psychological depth… 85%

TOURNAMENT WINNER: Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit)

Overall

This truly was a historical show that really felt like something special while I watched it. The crowd heat throughout was very high, and this is mostly due to the unexpected and unselfish booking of the tournament, in the first two matches the crowd was surprised by non-NJPW wrestlers going over, and the crowd was heated from that moment onwards. This carried through to the final few matches, as the crowd knew that anyone could have gone over, not just who was expected. The quality of wrestling was also superb throughout, and, despite some of the low ratings I gave to early matches, nothing was un-watchable. As far as it being the perfect tape to introduce yourself into puroresu, I would agree with that, but only in part. You see, although the show features names any wrestling fan will recognise and quality matches that are typical of the general style of Japanese wrestling, each match here is also very similar to the last one. If you watch this tape before any other puroresu then you will get bored and put a negative slant on it, whereas if you watch something like the 1995 Super J Cup, you will not as each match is varied, but I shall explore that further when I review it at some point down the line. Overall, this show gets a huge thumbs up, but not quite my highest recommendation.

Jake Metcalfe

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