[1994-01-05-WAR] Genichiro Tenryu & Tatsumi Kitahara vs Keiji Muto & El Samurai

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

The Muto/Tenryu exchanges have the Clash of the Titans feel you want, and the Samurai/Kitahara exchanges have the fun wrestling you want. Samurai had the nerve to try to powerbomb Tenryu, which I really enjoyed, but he paid for it.

 

This isn't quite a U.S. style FIP tag, but it's pretty similar in structure, with the NJ guys getting their hot start before Tenryu & Kitahara slow them down and take over most of the match. Samurai shows signs of life, but not too many, and Muto is having to make saves in some important spots. Muto finally does get tagged in and ramps up the energy.

 

I like the way Muto and Samurai work together as a team, as they seem to be surprisingly in sync. Muto misses a big moonsault, which leaves him prey to a Tenryu lariat and powerbomb. When Tenryu locks on the submission, I'm sure it's the finish, but Samurai makes the save.

 

But he ends up back in the line of fire and after taking a little more punishment, Tenryu's team reigns victorious after Kitahara gets in a German suplex.

 

There are better matches from this feud, but this is a worthy addition.

[Childs]

Curiously heatless for something from this rivalry. Tenryu vs. Mutoh felt like a big deal, but this paled compared to the best NJ vs. WAR tags from '93.

[shoe]

It was a solid tag with some cool shit but didn't resonate with me as much as a lot of the other WAR/NJ feud.

[Exposer]

I enjoyed this. It was cool to see Samurai do a FIP like segment. Tenryu's offense looked great as always. I loved when Muto got the tag and had a nice flurry of offense. His showdowns with Tenryu were awesome as well. This could have definitely been better but it worked out fine.

[soup23]

Decent match but disappointing. The Muto/Tenryu sections were nice but I was expecting more intensity and hatred. I actually liked the limited Samurai/Tenryu exchanges throughout the match the best.

[KB8]

I think I wound up liking this as much as I did because I read this thread first. My expectations were lowered, but I wound up thinking it was a blast. Not on the level of the truly transcendent WAR v NJ matches, but I'll take pretty much anything I can get from this feud (which I'm convinced is the best in-ring feud of all time at this point). Tenryu/Mutoh exchanges were all great, and I really dug Mutoh constantly taking shots at him. Loved the bit where he runs across the ring and chucks the ref' out the way so he can beat on Tenryu some more. And holy shit does Tenryu throw one of the loudest chops I've ever heard on Samurai.

[PeteF3]

Pretty good considering what a hodgepodge group of guys this is. Love watching Tenryu work against juniors he normally never associates with. Mutoh is in a situation where every expectation would have him dogging it--a non-televised indy show with his team doing the job--but he works hard and brings lots of energy. Tenryu absolutely creams Samurai with a lariat just as Sammy gets in a hot tag, and the end comes soon after. Kitahara gets a moment in the sun by dragon suplexing his way to victory.

[Zenjo]

It was exciting when the two stars were in there. As soon as the two underlings faced off the match just died. It was like going from the main event to the undercard in a blink of an eye.

[garretta]

This was okay, but nothing much I'll remember in a few hours. Most of this felt like two separate matches: Muta-Tenryu and Samurai-Kitahara. There wasn't much interaction between "opposites"; in fact, I doubt Muta was in there with Kitahara for more than a few seconds total.

 

I missed quite a few moves due to the choppy camerawork, plus Muta insisted in taking the match right into the middle of a sea of people at one point. I might have missed a few of the more dynamic moves because of this, and as I said above, what was left was just okay. There are definitely bigger moments ahead in what remains of this feud.

 

I agree about Tenryu's chops on Samurai being loud. Maybe that's why those two were in together more than Muta and Kitahara were. Samurai sold Tenryu's offense like a champ, that's for sure.

 

Are we absolutely sure that this is a handheld? At the very end, there appeared to be a globe logo onscreen, and I didn't know that you could do stuff like that with a regular home camcorder.

[Jetlag]

WAR interpromotional tag that lags a little behind the standard for those due to Mutoh and Samurai not being quite up to the violent standards that these matches have. You watch these matches for some kind of violent showdown to happen and these two aren't the types to bring it. Kitahara was also unusually subdued. However I'd still recommend this for Tenryus amazing performance. He would really eat the fuck out of Mutohs flimsy offense and looked great flying around to put over the match. Add in the usual dose of signature Tenryu face kicking, throat chopping, powerbombing and lariating madness and have yourself something fun.