Other 1995 worth watching

[PeteF3]

The Weekly Pro Wrestling Tokyo Dome show was the biggest wrestling event of 1995, the most historic, and the Observer readers' choice for Card of the Year. So I figure it should be looked at. I didn't want to watch the whole card but enough matches look interesting and/or have a rep that I'm going to come close...

 

The opening ceremony is pretty comical, with the cheesy glittering curtain and electric organ music. This is a 64,000-seat domed arena and it comes off like a local TV quiz show or Rotary Club banquet.

 

Dynamite Kansai, Candy Okutsu, Hikari Fukuoka, & Fusayo Nochi vs. Devil Masami, Cutie Suzuki, Mayumi Ozaki, & Hiromi Yagi (JWP)

 

Reviewing this matches may prove a little difficult, since by necessity they're sort of "out of context" and presented for outsiders rather than playing into ongoing storylines. So I hope I have something to offer besides "the usual fall-out-of-bed good match." But that's what this is. Good action showcasing all eight ladies with a neat finish. Kansai stood out as the match's best worker, as you'd expect, and Oz was disappointingly absent, or at least didn't really stand out. No one else did, though they all worked hard.

 

 

Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue vs. Manami Toyota & Blizzard Yuki (AJW)

 

Manami brings the WWWA belt with her, presumably just to troll Kong. That adds a personal bent to this right off the bat, as Kong & Inoue go to town and Toyota & Yuki can do underneath sympathy selling, lending a storyline to this that the good but exhibition-y opening 8-woman tag lacked. This is an absolutely terrific match, blowing the Double Inoue March tag out of the water. Everyone is all-out here in an effort to steal the show, but at the same time the match never becomes bloated or spot-heavy. The undercurrent of Toyota & Yuki working as underdogs having to fight and claw their way to having an advantage stays strong throughout. Terrific near-falls down the stretch and some terrific spots as well. Kong absolutely kills Toyota with one of the greatest Urakens ever. Yuki saves her once but Kong quickly puts Manami down for good afterward. This is a top-10 MOTYC at this point.

 

 

ALIEN DEATH MATCH - Ryuma Go vs. Uchu Maijin Silver X (Go Gundan)

 

Hilariously, Lou Thesz is brought out to make a speech right before this. As showmen and card planners go, the editors at Weekly Pro sound like fine magazine writers. I don't know what these guys did to earn a spot on this show, but I feel like I have to watch this one time before I die. The four aliens (very slowly) come out to "Mars--The Bringer of War," which is certainly a kickass entrance theme, and two of them are dressed in red longjohns and overalls--like the alien rednecks visiting Fyffe, Alabama that Bill Hicks spoke of. The other two are dressed like imitators of Jason the Terrible, or Lord Humongous, or the Gaspars. They do lots of spooky alien stuff like drop-downs and clean breaks and clubbering and trying to keep their hockey masks on. The sarcastic "whoooooa, OH!" crowd reactions are in full force here. This feels like it should be something out of DDT or Survival Tobita's promotion, years earlier, but aside from the liberal alien interference this is wrestled perfectly "straight," and badly at that. I don't have the slightest clue what to make of this, but considering its rep and its writeup in Foley's first book I'm not totally sorry I watched it.

 

 

Cactus Jack & The Headhunters vs. Terry Funk, Leatherface, & Shoji Nakamaki (IWA)

 

This of course starts with all 6 guys on the entrance stage, with the ring announcer not having been clued in that he was supposed to do a countdown for the guys to race for the barbed wire baseball bats. A visibly annoyed Cactus eventually takes off on his own and then the countdown starts. Most of the highlights of this come from the Headhunters flying all over the place with their big fat lucha offense, mostly directed towards abusing poor Nakamaki. At one point Shoji is sandwiched between two barbed wire beds and moonsaulted by a Headhunter. This gets better as it goes, as Leatherface, having walked out early in the match, makes a pivotal save with his trusty chainsaw and Funk and Cactus throw some awesome punches at each other on the floor. Cactus and the Headhunters pull off a Steiner Bulldog to the floor, followed by a big fat Leatherface plancha and Funk moonsault. This goes off the rails slightly when Cactus tries and fails to light one of the barbed wire beds on fire, but they recover nicely. Nakamaki eventually steals a win by rolling up a Headhunter, which isn't a finish you'd expect but plays nicely into the story of Nakamaki being their personal whipping boy. There are better, tighter death matches but this was fun.

 

 

The Great Sasuke, SATO, & Shiryu vs. Super Delfin, Gran Naniwa, & TAKA Michinoku (Michinoku Pro)

 

I hate to keep using "fall out of bed good," but that's what this is. You get the familiar arm-pumping comedy spots, and the double surfboard to triple surfboard to triple pin attempt spot, and the dive trains. What jumps out in this match in particular is the star-making performance from TAKA. He fits into this seamlessly, throwing some vicious strikes and of course wowing everybody with his spaceman planchas and springboard dropkicks.

 

 

Nobuhiko Takada, Masahito Kakihara, & Billy Scott vs. Gary Albright, Gene Lydick, & Kazuo Yamazaki (UWFI)

 

UWFI can't have run many 6-mans in its history. This has the most heat of anything on the show that I've watched, and it starts from the beginning with Yamazaki desperately trying to get at Takada before the bell has even sounded. It's a good, heated match that follows but doesn't quite fulfill the promise that it had at the beginning. When Yamazaki and Takada finally hook up, it doesn't quite live up to the hype. The Takada/Albright match-up goes much better, as does Albright murdering Scott. In the end, six guys is just too many for a UWFI match--with no saving or double-teams or anything, guys were getting lost in the shuffle.

 

 

Stan Hansen, Mitsuharu Misawa, & Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue, & Johnny Ace (AJPW)

 

So the story is that AJPW really wasn't enthused with this whole project. They were isolationist to begin with, and they were smack in the middle of their Champions Carnival with guys having a bunch of hard-hitting (and long) singles matches. They were planning to just send some undercarders, but with fan backlash and New Japan trotting out a main event with its two hottest singles stars, they changed course, provided an all-star 6-man tag, and from what I understand stole the show, or at least stole the thunder from NJPW. Ace is a substitute for Dr. Death, who was going through his drug/arrest troubles and was out of wrestling entirely, putting an end to a great 18-month run.

 

This is something past "fall out of bed" good. This is one of the better AJPW matches of the year and probably the best 6-man we'll see. It's the best performance I remember seeing out of Johnny Ace. It's one of the best Kobashi-in-peril performances you'll see. It even advances the Taue/Misawa CC rivalry as Taue has Misawa on the ropes down the stretch. It has a fresh dynamic with Hansen in a white-knight role, working the hot tag and doing double-teams with Misawa. It absolutely flies by--I wasn't even considering that this might be a draw until the "5 minutes left" time call came. I could have watched these 6 guys go for another 30, easily, and my patience with hour draws was wearing thin. Ultimately this probably wasn't truly consequential enough to be a major MOTYC, but it's certainly in the top 10 right now and could easily finish in the top 15-20.

 

 

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masahiro Chono (NJPW)

 

Few guys have undergone a more beneficial transformation during this time period than Chono. Only Doc's transition from tag wrestler to singles star compares, but Chono's career was in worse shape than Doc's. This starts off great, with Hash psychotically kicking Chono to death in the corner and abusing Tiger Hattori in the process, with Chono having to fight back just as hard. But then this just dies, with a lot of meandering and punch-kickery. Chono is charismatic in this role but this really feels like a WWF or AAA-style New Japan match. Lots of playing to the crowd between moves clubbering, and Hash does an unconvincing Hulk-Up routine. The crowd seems really restless, too. Hiro Saito's interference isn't appreciated, either. This has the attempt of an intense no-frills war, but it comes off about 1/3 as convincing as a Hash/Tenryu match would be in this setting. This isn't a BAD match, but it seems these guys expected to just walk in and have a really good match, instead of doing anything particularly special as befitting either this setting or this feud. It's just another routine Hash title defense with a routine layout and routine finish. Reaction to this match was negative enough--to say nothing of the the realization that AJPW had outclassed them in their own backyard--that NJPW basically pulled their support for this show as soon as it was over. So no home video release, no sequels (even though Mutoh was supposedly willing to put Misawa over in a singles dream match had they run this again in '96), or anything else. Too bad, because this show ultimately did live up to its hype, providing a little something for every wrestling fan without overstaying its welcome the way Big Egg did.

[PeteF3]

Stan Hansen, Kenta Kobashi, & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada, Johnny Ace, & Takao Omori, 4/15/95

 

Omori is wearing the single ghastliest set of trunks I have ever, ever seen. That includes Jay Strongbow's '70s-couch-cushion pattern. They can barely be described as anything besides "psychedelic leopardskin." Or psychedelic sponge. This is a solid 6-man tag that's hurt by a meandering opening half. It picks up when Kobashi gets caught in the ropes and Kawada starts taking his knee apart, but the Kobashi-in-peril segment doesn't last too long and we quickly go to the hot tag and big 6-man bomb-throwing after that. Fun closing stretch but this isn't at the levels of the classic 6-mans of '91-'93. Omori seems to be in a state of arrested development since showing up in '94, as he still doesn't offer much besides the ability to take a beating. And the teams are more haphazard than the clearer alliances of the Jumbo's Army/Super Generation Army days. That said, it's still fun seeing fresh blood and fresh teams in this setting.

[PeteF3]

Sting vs. Arn Anderson, WCW Saturday Night 4/22/95

 

This is from the first round of the U.S. title tournament. I didn't think much of most of the action here, but they won me over by the end. Sting did a lot of punch-kickery but he also targeted Arn's leg, which paid off in a big way later. Arn had some great counters here--a spinebuster out of nowhere, the "wind up a punch and DDT the guy when he ducks" spot that I love so dearly, and catching Sting with a back elbow when he attempted one too many Stinger splashes. Hot closing stretch in general, leading to a clean submission victory thanks to Sting's earlier work on the leg.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Cactus Jack vs Sandman w/Woman - ECW TV Falls Count Anywhere 1/31/95

Was not even going to bother with this match because I had seen a couple Cactus/Sandman matches and they always sucked. I thought I was just making the right choice because Woman in that tight green, leather dress was double hot. What a total fox! Then lo and behold, these two maniacs went out and kicked some serious ass. Cactus meets Sandman up the aisle with a trash can and just brutalizes Sandman. Sandman was really good at selling a beating throughout the match. Woman starts caning Cactus and finally Sandman takes over (Awesome transition #1). He does a really good job building heat. He hits a nice top rope leg drop. There is no overkill, he is still working through his own beating. Cactus is able to mount a comeback while Sandman is on the top rope (Awesome Transition #2). Cactus is rolling until he punches a trash can that Sandman holds up at the last second. (Have Mercy! Awesome Transition #3) Cactus blades his hand. Nastiest paper cut ever, folks! Sandman stomps the hand and works a great heat segment around it smashing the hand with the garbage can. Sandman is stumbling around and is so good at working through his beating. DELAYED PILEDRIVER ON THE GARBAGE CAN! My slight complaint is that Jack was fine at selling the hand, but would be a bit too quick to pop back up in general. Sandman goes for the kill, but goes flying over the top rope onto the floor. (Awwww shit, you all just love me, Awesome Transition #4) Cactus is able to get the Cactus Elbow for the three. Woman starts caning Cactus. Jack does intimidating the woman routine, but this allows Sandman to attack. Sandman canes the shit out of Cactus. Sandman lights a cigarette and then tries to BLIND CACTUS!!! Mikey Whipwreck with the save to a huge Mikey chant. Sandman/Woman cut a decent promo. Sandman has a Woman t-shirt that I need to own. Cactus cuts a money promo (which made the yearbook) that makes me want to see the Texas Death Match even though I have seen it before and didn't like it. Great, great ECW brawl with really smart transitions and great selling by Sandman. ***1/2

[PeteF3]

Hiromichi Fuyuki vs. Shiro Koshinaka, 7/7/95

 

These aren't exactly two guys I gush over the opportunity to see, and aside from a few interference spots and Fuyuki taking a bell to Shiro's head on the floor, this isn't a bloody interpromotional brawl either. But it is a very well laid-out match between two guys who know how to work a crowd. Fuyuki has finished his transformation into possibly the biggest slob in the history of wrestling, but can still move about--he's pretty much a Japanese indy Dusty Rhodes. Fuyuki has taped ribs which plays into some cool counters as well as the finishing stretch. Nothing that will change the world but a match that reflects well on both guys.

[PeteF3]

Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, & Yoshinari Ogawa (7/8)

 

Because I couldn't go through '95 without getting a glimpse of EVIL KIKUCHI. He's even switched to evil black tights, though he eschewed the evil goatee. Sadly he seems pretty banged up and out of it by this point, so he doesn't do a ton and leaves the heavy lifting to his partners. The first half of this is all about setting up Kawada as a killer, as he chokes out Misawa and is basically treated almost as a no-selling monster heel from the way he carries himself and the urgency with which Kobashi and Akiyama take him on. After that it bogs down into a pretty through-the-motions tag, with a through-the-motions FIP segment on Akiyama and a through-the-motions finish with Misawa putting Ogawa away without a ton of trouble. One for AJPW completists, though I could get into Kikuchi & Ogawa as a ratfuck tag team.

[PeteF3]

The 1-2-3 Kid vs. The Roadie, In Your House 7/22/95

 

This had something of a rep and it's probably the best non-gimmick singles bout of Brian Armstrong's career. It's not great or anything much more than a solid TV-level bout, but he's able to keep up with the Kid on the faster sequences and he tones down the dancing between moves from where he had been in the summer. Kid is working at around 50% due to his neck injury but still knows how to put together a strong match. Roadie wins with a second-rope piledriver, which is effective considering Kid came in with a neck injury but probably should have been sold with a stretcher job rather than just a three-count.

[PeteF3]

Tommy Dreamer, Cactus Jack, & The Pitbulls vs. Raven, Stevie Richards, Big Dick Dudley, & Dudley Dudley - ECW Wrestlepalooza 8/5/95

 

Styles made mention of the events here in the 6-man later on, so I figured I'd better watch what we have of it. Match is clipped, but we get lots of Richards and Dudley Dudley stooging and getting destroyed, and Big Dick working as a no-selling monster. Cactus gets his licks in on everyone else, but keeps tagging out when he has a chance to hit Raven. This is pretty much just the highspots, but the spots are pretty good and Dreamer, from what we see, works an effective enough FIP. As all 8 are brawling, Dreamer drops Raven with a piledriver on a chair and strikes a crucifix pose to celebrate, only for Cactus to drop him with a double arm DDT on the chair, throw Raven on top, and give the heels another win. Even the ECW smark crowd is shocked and aghast at this development--Paul E. would later compare the crowd reaction to Koloff beating Bruno. I wouldn't go that far, and Paul would of course be involved in an even bigger Koloff/Bruno moment decades later, but this was nonetheless a very effective twist in the feud leading to some stuff that I can't wait to revisit.

[PeteF3]

Bull Nakano vs. Kyoko Inoue, 9/2/95

 

I'm...not all that sure what to make of this, honestly. But I think I really liked it. This has the feel of a very extended squash, as for 90% of this Bull seems to either shrug off or have an answer for every single thing Kyoko tries. And for awhile this was feeling like a step back for Kyoko. Even though her WWF stint was over with, Bull had taken a sort of elder-stateswoman role, and having already vanquished Kyoko in a WWF title match earlier I wasn't seeing the purpose in having Inoue put her over so strongly again when it was pretty clear who needed the win more. Kyoko gets not one but two DRAMATIC ONE-COUNTS off Bull's guillotine legdrop, and controversy over that spot aside I think it worked here. That forces Bull to go for the somersault guillotine legdrop, and *that* gets two. So Bull goes for the moonsault, which misses. I do love that recurring progression in Bull's big matches. Now, Kyoko chooses to follow this up by unsuccessfully attempting to apply a surfboard, which was not a direction I would have gone in. It's her first opportunity to truly impact Bull and that's a hold designed for the opening feeling-out process, not after a major transition. It gets a little wonky from there, but Kyoko and Bull pull this back together when Inoue starts going for the Niagara Drivers. Two of them followed up by a power bomb nets...a 3 count?! Yeah, that totally caught me off-guard, which is to this match's ultimate credit. Like I said, this feels like a hard match to rate--I had some issues with the psychology and I was so prepared to hate the result it seemed to be building toward ("Kyoko is gutsy and tenacious but completely overmatched," like Kobashi in 1990-91 against Hansen, which was not the right story to tell at this point) that the end result is leaving me puzzled for a proper star rating. But, bottom line, it's a milestone win for Kyoko that seems to come at the right time, and good on them for pulling the trigger and for so completely fooling me.

[PeteF3]

Akira Hokuto, Etsuko Mita, & Mima Shimoda vs. Mariko Yoshida, Reggie Bennett, & Kaoru Ito, AJW 6/27/95

 

Dave gave this ****1/4 and it looks like a good opportunity to see what the mid-card AJW types were doing, in a semifinal of a major show. Shimoda is wearing the skimpiest attire in the history of women's wrestling--Attitude Era divas would look at and say, "cover yourself up some." Not a complaint, just an observation. This is all-action and pretty spotfesty, but it's a very good showcase for LCO, who pretty much dominate this from bell to bell. Every time the opponents start to gain an advantage, even after burying Hokuto under a pile of chairs outside the ring and busting her open, they're almost immediately cut off. A little overrated by Dave considering this was basically a 15-minute squash, but LCO sure look impressive, doing some Michinoku Pro-style triple team spots and running a pretty intricate dive train sequence. Hokuto hits one of the great Northern Lights bombs of her career, spiking Yoshida into the mat for the pin. Other than a few isolated nice moves--Kaoru does an Asai-style dive to the floor and Reggie has a good big fat flying splash--LCO's opponents didn't get the chance to show much.

[ohtani's jacket]

I watched the 2/15/95 Toyota/Hotta vs. Kyoko/Takako tag where whoever gets the pin earns the right to challenge Aja at the Queendom show. Quite an interesting dynamic as Toyota and Hotta end up coming to blows whereas Takako works tirelessly to win the title shot for her partner. The finish is ridiculous though. Hotta takes a bump to the floor and Toyota is supposed to pin Kyoko with a move off the top rope, but she botches it completely and they do a reset in the opposite corner by which time Hotta has recovered and is standing on the apron wondering what the fuck is going on. She doesn't know quite what to do, so she just watches Toyota pin Kyoko and grab the title shot.

[PeteF3]

Bill Alfonso vs. Tod Gordon, November 2 Remember '95

 

Beulah is supposed to guest ref, but when she yells at Alfonso for jumping Gordon on the floor, Bill levels her with a clothesline and takes her out of the match. This is clipped, but the action we see is so much better than it has any right to be that it's absurd. In some ways this is more impressive than Stevie vs. Luna, though maybe not as good as Cornette working against Mark Curtis. Fonzie is such a little shit that the heat is through the roof--the "WE WANT BLOOD" chant for once fits perfectly into the story of the match. Tod rams Alfonso into a chair outside and Fonzie fulfills our wish--"ALFONSO'S BUSTED OPEN! ALFONSO'S BUSTED OPEN! THE COMMISH DID IT!" There's even a well-built-to payback spot with Gordon uppercuting Alfonso in the nuts, just as Bill did to him earlier. He knocks Bill out with a frying pan, but with no referee, Taz (who guest refed earlier in the night) has to come out to make the count. One, two...and Taz clobbers Gordon and gives the victory to Bill.

 

Taz gets on the mic and I have to deal with ECW's usual sound quality combined with the usual DailyMotion sound quality. That and every other word is getting bleeped. Taz calls out the ECW fans for their concern over Tommy Dreamer, Terry Funk, and Sabu for their various injuries in the past year. "WHAT ABOUT ME?" I think this refers to the neck problems Taz had been having at this time. Taz points out that his father isn't a "fat kike lawyer" (!!!--got bleeped, but I'm pretty sure that's what he said) so he doesn't have the luxury of being able to live comfortably if he can't work. The only guy who worked to put food on Taz's table and money in his pocket was Alfonso.

 

Not one of the absolute best Alfonso segments of the year, but another very good one. Taz has done very little since Sabu departed and is about to begin the run of his career, so that's pretty exciting.

[DMJ]

Alex Wright vs. Brian Pillman

- Great American Bash 95' -

 

Easily the best Wright match he had had (on PPV at least) so far and a very good effort from Pillman as well. I've been going through the WCW PPVs and Clashes from this era via the Network and what really surprises me, after more research, is that Pillman was around for most of 94'-95', but hadn't been featured in any major storylines or matches for several months. This match shows just how much he still had in the tank, but for whatever reason, WCW thought it best to give PPV time to Evad Sullivan and Road Warrior Hawk instead. What I really like about Pillman here is that he doesn't ever outright cheat, but there are not-so-subtle heel tactics in his offense that allow him to play the crafty vet that has been around the block too many times not to take advantage of his opponent's inexperience. There are moments of real sloppiness (Wright botches a surfboard, for example), but there are also moments that look astonishing (when Wright comes off the top at one point, Pillman catches him with a dropkick that looks like it should've disconnected Das Wunderkind's head from his body), making it an exciting watch. Also, unlike the other Wright matches I've seen from this time, this one isn't bogged down with never-ending restholds. Instead, the submissions and side headlocks are usually kept brief and often come before or after a good exchange of offense. I wouldn't call this a "hidden gem," but relatively speaking to what else WCW was putting on PPV that year, this one is pretty darn good.

[jdw]

I watched the 2/15/95 Toyota/Hotta vs. Kyoko/Takako tag where whoever gets the pin earns the right to challenge Aja at the Queendom show. Quite an interesting dynamic as Toyota and Hotta end up coming to blows whereas Takako works tirelessly to win the title shot for her partner. The finish is ridiculous though. Hotta takes a bump to the floor and Toyota is supposed to pin Kyoko with a move off the top rope, but she botches it completely and they do a reset in the opposite corner by which time Hotta has recovered and is standing on the apron wondering what the fuck is going on. She doesn't know quite what to do, so she just watches Toyota pin Kyoko and grab the title shot.

 

I love the dynamic that you talk about, which made for a fun TV match. The finish... yeah... they did have goofy ones like that, and one wishes they were smart enough to extend the match a few minutes and come up with something new rather than make it so poor.

[Bierschwale]

It might have been excessive to have two Miguel Perez hair matches from a four-week span, but Dantes-Perez from 10/13 is an awesome match, and better than the Aniversario main event against Silver King. Perez is one of the most entertaining wrestlers of the decade for me-- he fits well into any situation.

[JRH]

Sting vs Meng from Great American Bash is worth a watch. Sting sells well for Meng and makes him look like a threat before making some great comebacks. Sting even wins with a jumping DDT (Never seen him win a match with that move outside of this one) Probably Meng's first good WCW match, and an underrated match for Sting.