[1994-03-02-WAR-Revolution Rumble] Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Phil Schneider]

This match won the Tokyo Sports MOTY for 1994, that is 1994, the year of Misawa v. Kawada, Vader v. Takada and the Super J Cup. Still you watch this match and think "Yeah fuck a Misawa v. Kawada, this is it right here." Epic match with everyone playing their parts perfectly. Both Goto and Hara are awesome as the bruiser tag partners whose job is to beat on the opposing teams big hitter. Hara brutalizes Onita early with headbutts busting him open, while Goto cracked Tenryu with lariats, superfly splashes and a a face first piledriver on the table. Then they clear out and let the two megastars match up. The finishing run may not have been the smoothest wrestling I have seen, but holy shit are Tenryu and Onita pair of charismatic motherfuckers who know how to draw you in a match. Tenryu's selling was brilliant here, at about the ten minute mark of the match he gets caught with a big DDT from Onita, and he is never able to shake off that shot. He goes back on offense, hits some big moves, but he has this awesome thousand yard stare even when he is firing back. When he finally goes down, it is a huge monster deal, but I buy Onita getting the win, even without explosions. The main event interpromotional WAR tag is one of the greatest thing in wrestling history.

[Loss]

Pretty great spectacle. Got really sloppy toward the end, but the atmosphere is enough to overcome that. The Onita/Tenryu teases of a lockup early on are done really well, and you can tell these fans are clamoring to see these two go at it. Hara and Goto were both terrific. This is a headbutt centric match, but they also work really stiff. I enjoyed this quite a bit and can see why it got the accolades that it did.

[El-P]

This is a must see. Charisma + stiffness + chaos + nuclear heat = classic.

[Kevin Ridge]

Digging the crowd response right off the bat. Headbutts all around. Tenryu with some nice little kicks to Onita’s face on the apron. He is really just taking a pounding in the face and head and gets bloodied. Goto interrupts pinfall after the powerbomb and Tenryu’s response is fantastic as he just knocks him out of the ring and smacks the crap out of Goto.

 

Onita can’t get enough momentum and now Goto goes after Tenryu with a chair outside the ring. There is very little standing in the apron waiting for a tag here. All four guys involved nonstop. Goto and Anita do a lot of quick tags when Tenryu slowly making it back to his corner. Tenryu finally tags back in only for Goto to interrupt again and it’s more anger from Tenryu. But Goto is ready this time and he returns the favor with some help of a table.

 

Onita and Tenryu go back and forth to a great heated finished. Onita can’t get Tenryu up first time with the Firebomb and drops him straight on top his end. Good job Tenryu had his hands in place for that one. Second attempt works.

 

What I love about these yearbooks is coming across a match like this that haven’t seen before. Tenryu and Onita were awesome here. Match had action from the very beginning with no down time. One of my favorites matches on set so far.

[Childs]

I love few things more than Japanese interpromotional wrestling. I'm glad others like this as much as I do.

[ohtani's jacket]

I can't get into this WAR stuff at all. The atmosphere here was better than the match itself, which was sloppy and uninteresting. I don't get the love for Tenryu. I mean he's cool and shit but how does that make his poor execution excusable? I really hate how dense Japanese wrestling is. They do too many moves and have too many nearfalls. 90s matches in particular are just overkill. So many of the criticisms about women's matches are applicable to the men as well. I don't see any difference between say this and a Chigusa JWP performance.

[Exposer]

The crowd loves this before the bell. Tenryu and Onita are not friends. Onita gets bloodied but Goto breaks a pin attempt and Tenryu isn't happy and takes out Goto for a minute. That was a mistake and Tenryu gets DDTed on his head a few times and tags in Hara. Goto is mad at Tenryu for attacking him earlier so he bloodies him with a chair. Hara gets destroyed and injures his ribs so Tenryu has to wrestle the match by himself. Unfortunately, he's bloody also. He gets destroyed but comes back and locks in a submission. Hara hangs on to Goto's leg in a great moment to try to prevent him from breaking Tenryu's hold on Onita. Hara finally gets kicked off Goto. The finish is botched a little but it still delivered okay. This was a tremendous match with the WAR guys out of their element a little bit dealing with those lunatics from FMW.

[soup23]

Real contrast to the last match because that had better spots (minus Sasuke Special) but this had much execution and story. Overall a great inter-promotional feud and Onita and Tenryu being charismatic as hell and Hara and Goto being the respective bruisers of their team. Tenryu's sustained selling after the DDT was masterful and good for him to give Onita the win to continue the feud.

[PeteF3]

Hmm...yep, I'll buy it: this is the Match of the Year through 2 months. Goto's a big bruiser but also throws in some spectacular dives off the top rope. Onita and Tenryu could blow their noses and have the crowd going nuts. And this is probably the best Hara performance I've ever seen, as he gets into headbutt battles with both members of Team FMW and then takes an epic shitkicking. It's the first time I think I've ever seen Hara as sympathetic babyface and against all odds he pulls it off. They sort of re-do the 12/89 Baba injury storyline as Hara is out of commission getting his ribs taped, leaving Tenryu alone to get massacred. He puts up a valiant effort and Hara makes an effort to get involved, but by that time it's Tenryu who's banged up and injured and helpless to stop Hara from being doubleteamed into oblivion on the floor. The finish was a little sloppily done but the premise was great--Goto levels Tenryu with enzuigiris, and when Tenryu ducks one he leaves himself a sitting duck for the Thunder Fire Power Bomb. If they'd executed that smoothly instead of Onita having to re-do the power bomb pick-up, it'd have been perfect. I really hope to keep a spot in the Top 10 MOTY list for this.

[DR Ackermann]

There were parts of this I loved and parts of this that I absolutely hated. Overkill is the right word. Tenryu's charisma and presence adds so much and he's always willing to make other people look good but I don't think he should have kicked out of so much big stuff here. It cheapened the importance of a lot of it, like Goto's finisher onto the table. While I enjoyed much of the match, I don't see this as a match of the year contender but I can see why some people would.

[ohtani's jacket]

This was a hell of a match. Interesting contrast at the start with the FMW team coming to the ring with feudal era flags and a huge entourage while the WAR boys arrived with a minimum of fanfare. Really wild, chaotic opening to the bout with some big men flying about trying to knock each other out. Things dipped a bit during the Onita face in peril segment, but picked up again when Tenryu chased after Goto for interfering in the bout. He dished out his harite attack as Goto was crumpled against the guard rail and that set off a chain reaction that ended up costing the WAR team the bout as Goto attacked Tenryu with a chair leaving Hara to fend for himself in a two-on-one situation. Hara's not really great at any one thing, but he always puts in a solid shift and his selling was decent enough to keep things ticking over. However, the glue that held this together was Goto. I thought he was immense in this both in dishing out the revenge spots against Tenryu and keeping the crowd hooked when Hara in peril was the main focus. As for Tenryu, well what more can be said about his selling. I think he may be entering the upper echelon of sellers for mine. I was really impressed when Hara made the hot-ish tag and Tenryu launched into a high tempo attack then staggered backwards against the turnbuckle selling both his cut and his wooziness. The stretch run was full of great images and a bucket load of passion, which is what you want from these interpromotional matches. Goto worked overtime to ensure his team got the win, Hara was out of action with taped ribs, and Tenryu was fighting on guts alone. This had so much going for it that even Tenryu's abdominal stretch hold felt like a huge moment. I absolutely adored the finish with Goto hitting the enzuigiri and then Tenryu fighting desperately against the Fire Thunder Powerbomb. That first counter to the powerbomb where Tenryu made it impossible for Onita to lift him despite the fact he was hanging upside down in a compromised position is one of the coolest powerbomb counters I can remember seeing. Onita nailing the second attempt sent shock waves through the crowd and the commentary put over what a shock win it was. Great match. I was even excited watching the highlights afterwards.

[ohtani's jacket]

I can't get into this WAR stuff at all. The atmosphere here was better than the match itself, which was sloppy and uninteresting. I don't get the love for Tenryu. I mean he's cool and shit but how does that make his poor execution excusable? I really hate how dense Japanese wrestling is. They do too many moves and have too many nearfalls. 90s matches in particular are just overkill. So many of the criticisms about women's matches are applicable to the men as well. I don't see any difference between say this and a Chigusa JWP performance.

 

Who is this guy?

[WingedEagle]

 

I can't get into this WAR stuff at all. The atmosphere here was better than the match itself, which was sloppy and uninteresting. I don't get the love for Tenryu. I mean he's cool and shit but how does that make his poor execution excusable? I really hate how dense Japanese wrestling is. They do too many moves and have too many nearfalls. 90s matches in particular are just overkill. So many of the criticisms about women's matches are applicable to the men as well. I don't see any difference between say this and a Chigusa JWP performance.

 

Who is this guy?

 

 

Evolution! Love it. Watch, 3 years from now you're not a fan of it.

[DR Ackermann]

Holy shit. Just watched this again and like OJ, I have no idea what match I was watching last time. This was awesome. These guys just beat the crap out of each other and everyone came out of this looking good. Incredible match.