NJPW Crush the Super Heavy II N3: Tatsumi Fujinami 20th Anniversary (5.28.91) review 

 

May 28, 1991 

 

This is a fancam, so I’m going to have to pay close attention to what’s happening as I can easily fuck stuff up. We’re in Kamagaya, Chiba, Japan. Crowd is over 2000. We used to get fancams off tape traders and have to try and figure out who was in the matches. Keeping in mind, this is pre-cagematch and sometimes the dates were wrong. Sometimes they’d have a match listing, and people’s names would be hilariously wrong on them like Juniaki Yama instead of Jun Akiyama. Anyway, I’ll try and keep on top of things. This is on VK dot com, but you didn’t hear that from me. New Japan will probably copyright strike it before I’ve finished typing this sentence. Yes, I am that desperate for New Japan content, I’m watching this bullshit.  

 

Osamu Nishimura vs. Koji Kanemoto 

Nishimura helpfully wears blue so I can tell them apart. That’s not a racial thing; the quality of the tape isn’t great. Both guys are relatively new to pro-wrestling. Nishimura debuted this year, making me even more shocked he’s wearing blue. They do a lot of dull basic stuff until Nishimura throws a few spuds in the corner and Kanemoto doesn’t proceed to murder him. Huh, how about that?  

 

This is the kind of match I’d love to see in the wXw Academy with two guys doing mat work and technical counters but on TV, or in front of 2k people, it’s pretty pedestrian. It doesn’t help that neither man is far enough along to carry a match. Kanemoto ends up mutilating Nishimura with submissions, and he taps out. Oooh, the tap out! Nice. Is that the first one? *¾ 

 

Hiroyoshi Yamamoto vs. Takeshi Misawa 

Yamamoto is a young Tenzan pre-hairstyle. Misawa was a guy who broke through a couple of years back but suffered a serious injury. This is his comeback match. He didn’t last long. It’s weird seeing Tenzan’s Easter Island sized head stuck on a little body. He’s just barely 20 years old here. This is another Young Lions style contest, and they’re both wearing generic black gear. It feels like an even worse version of the last match. Mainly because Misawa is so rusty and he gets gassed after a few minutes. Misawa wins with a half crab, and I even get annoyed at that because he did a dropkick and landed right into a pin but didn’t pin. It was the perfect landing. *½. Bonus a half star for using “Young Lust” by Aerosmith as his entrance music.  

 

Black Cat vs. Michiyoshi Ohara 

We’re now into the actual card as a ring girl gives Black Cat flowers. Thanks for joining us from Mexico, sir. Ohara looks like a Japanese military experiment. He’s been at the super soldier serum, but it’s not made him any taller. Compared to the energy of previous NJPW shows, this is downright depressing. It grinds along at a middling pace. It’s like watching Butch Reed, repeatedly. At least they do stuff and don’t chinlock me to sleep. It’s all just pedestrian. Black Cat does some cool stuff near the end but then finishes with a bad spinebuster with a flipping pin. Meh. *¾  

 

Shiro Koshinaka & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Masashi Aoyagi & Kuniaki Kobayashi 

Aoyagi was the judo guy who had those bloodfests with Onita a few years ago. Sadly, this is just a Hoshino comedy match. Koshinaka is the only one who’s still alive and, amazingly, still active (2026). How many hip strikes can you do before you need a hip replacement? They work over Aoyagi’s hand, which is a big ask on the selling side. Kobayashi, to the audience’s amusement, works over Koshinaka’s nose. You can tell they’re just doing some house show nonsense here. It is over with the crowd though, so I’ll give them a pass. The match also escalates with three of the four swinging for the fences on the big spots (pretty sure Hoshino has no big spots). Kobayashi catches the poor old bastard with a roll up for the win. **¼  

 

Hiroshi Hase, Kensuke Sasaki & Jushin Liger vs. Hiro Saito, Norio Honaga & Super Strong Machine 

This is giving me big ‘pre-intermission secondary main event’ vibes. The Blond Outlaws work Liger over for a while. Then Sasaki for a while. Then Hase for a while. No shine whatsoever for anyone. An entire third of the match is so boring. I believe trios matches should not have this kind of structure….at all. Ever. You shouldn’t be paying four guys to just stand around for 15 minutes.  

 

Hase eventually wakes the crowd up with the BIG SWING on Honaga. Both guys fall over because they’re dizzy. Chortle. Liger then gives Honaga the airplane spin. That’s just mean. Sasaki, who can’t think of a different move, also does the airplane spin. As soon as that’s done, the heels go back to recycling heat. Liger breaks that with a house show dive. He’s looked the most energised of everyone here, but it’s a low bar. Honaga comes after him with a waistlock and Liger just rolls him up for the win. Another low energy effort with lots of dull isolation stuff. ** 

 

Liger poses for a while, and we do indeed get an intermission. Only ten minutes mind you.  

 

Masahiro Chono vs. Tatsutoshi Goto 

This is quite an energetic scrap compared to the rest of the card, but it’s all brawling. The pace does not last brothers and sisters. We quickly grind into a series of rest holds, and the match goes completely to shit. Goto, having taken one bump into the guardrail, is like “that’s me done for tonight, jack”. Sensing the crowd is getting a bit bored they pick it up again and Chono plants Goto with a Samoan Drop and the YAKUZZZZAAAAA KIIIIIIIICCCK. It’s not the finish! Instead, they do a shitty ref bump, and Goto should be DQ’d for doing so, and for a low blow, but the ref sees neither and only sees Chono whack Goto in the face with a chair. If this had the energy of the start and finish throughout, it would be pretty good. It’s not though. ** 

 

Chono started to get better in 1991. Hopefully I can get some of his work on tape before the year is out.  

 

Bam Bam Bigelow & Pegasus Kid vs. Riki Choshu & Osamu Kido 

Choshu is the only guy that’s still alive from this match. This is an early incarnation of Chris Benoit and having him masked helps because I don’t have to look at his ugly murderous Canadian face. Choshu is super over and him knocking Bigelow over with a couple of lariats is glorious underdog behaviour. Early Pegasus Kid showed how much he wanted to be Dynamite Kid. I’ve heard it said that people copied Dynamite Kid and Shawn Michaels a lot, but where did Dynamite get his shit from? Who was he influenced by? He was just a fucking nutter, lads. 

 

Choshu is notably slacker than usual. His bumps are ugly, and his effort levels are not there. The gaijin look motivated though and Kido takes the bulk of the match. Given the combined threat of the gaijin, it’s probably for the best. They’re a fun team. Pegasus should win it with a diving headbutt but doesn’t pin for whatever reason, and the Riki Lariat finishes moments later. **¾. Easily MOTN with three of them trying really hard.  

 

Tatsumi Fujinami, Keiji Muto & Kengo Kimura vs. Vader, TNT & Miguelito Perez 

Two of Los Boriquas under different gimmicks as tag partners for Vader. This is Fujinami’s moment though as his twentieth anniversary match up. Fujinami looks fired up and seems to enjoy clobbering Vader. Muto gets less joy, and Vader just swats aside his dropkick like it’s nothing. Perez, and his ridiculously hairy back, seems energised here too. The gaijin have outperformed the natives all night.  

 

Savio (TNT) is a little sketchy at times, but he still tries hard. He looks passable. Perez looks better here than he did in his WWF run. Savio got invited back but Perez didn’t. Maybe the locals just loved spin kicks. He certainly does a few of them here. Maybe Perez got shit listed for taking weird looking bumps. Vader vs Fujinami is the meatiest of matches though. They have good chemistry and go at a wicked pace. Vader gets Kimura in an armbar and that finishes. Huh. That was unexpected. *** 

 

The 411: 

I know it’s a house show. I know it’s a fancam. It’s all I could get ahold of from New Japan. They’ve basically wiped New Japan stuff off the internet. As I’m trying to review everything based on what’s available, so you can all watch it too….this is it. Soz. Not recommended in the slightest. Maybe the last couple of matches.