NJPW Super Fight in Tokyo Dome (2.10.90) review 

 

February 10, 1990 

 

Feel free to skip the opening paragraph if you don’t want to know about my current mental state.  

 

Hi, I took a bit of a sabbatical from this project (and writing in general) recently. Three weeks to be precise. What caused this sabbatical? I’m not sure. I do know that, increasingly, people on the internet are getting more aggressive and jump on every single word you say. After complaining of a train delay on the Twitter, I got accused of being insensitive and was called all kinds of names because “someone had died”. No one had died. It was an escaped convict and a police search that delayed my train, but why let facts get in the way of jumping to conclusions and abusing someone. Long story short, I’ve deleted Twitter off my phone. Which means I can’t doom scroll and see the millions of Elon Musk inspired stupid opinions that riddle that dead bird app. I can feel myself getting more and more angry by the day. So, here’s the alternative. Unplugging somewhat and going backwards through time to the, now ancient in modern terms, early 1990s, where I feel more comfortable.  

 

Now onto New Japan in 1990. I’ve done this show before, but it was the bastardised version on New Japan World, and this is the uncut version. We’re in Tokyo, Japan at the Dome. 63,900 in attendance. This is one of the earliest iterations of the ‘January 4 Dome Show/Wrestle Kingdom’ date. They started the January 4 date tradition in 1992.  

 

To start with we have Koji Kitao, a former sumo wrestler, forced out of the sumo profession just after he’d made yokozuna thanks to a falling out with his stable master Haguroyama Sojo. Kitao, not known for his level headed behaviour, struck Sojo’s WIFE. Kitao was effectively banished from sumo while in the top division (sekitori), which had never happened before.  

 

A true trailblazer in being a complete jackass, Kitao attempted to join the NFL but was rejected there. In 1989, two years after his sumo expulsion, he trained under Verne Gagne and Lou Thesz for this New Japan debut. His popularity was based on his fame and once people got attuned to his actual persona, he started getting booed heavily and quit NJPW to go to Super World of Sports inside a year after racially abusing booker Riki Choshu.  

 

Amazingly, Kitao will feature on the undercard at Wrestlemania VII and went on to have a legitimate fight with John Tenta, also a former sumo, which resulted in a DQ. Kitao then got on the house mic and called wrestling “fake”, insisting he could beat Tenta in a real fight. After this he tried to attack the manager of SWS (Hachiro Tanaka) and threw a chair at his WIFE. What has this guy got against wives? Tenryu had to fire him and that was the end of his mainstream wrestling career. Although it didn’t stop Tenryu hiring him again for WAR many years later.  

 

Kitao got his act together after these issues but never reached the highs he promised in his early career. He did get a second chance at the big time by competing in MMA and featured on UFC #9 and beat Nathan Jones (yes, that one) at PRIDE #1. He died of renal failure in 2019 at the painfully young age of 55. One of those guys in wrestling where you can’t help but wonder what might have been. 

 

This tape shows footage of Kitao training. First in the gym and then squashing some jabronie (Hiroshi Hase!) while Brad Rheingans and Masa Saito look on. 

 

 

Jushin Liger & Akira Nogami vs. Naoki Sano & Pegasus Kid 

Oh no, the first sighting of Benoit. At least he’s under a mask so I don’t have to look at his hideous child murderers face. Liger vs Sano was the bedrock for the junior division but he’s off to SWS so they have to segue to a new rival for Liger. I.E. Pegasus Kid. Seeing Benoit in with the juniors from Japan makes him look like a roid freak because he’s so much more muscular. He also botches a nip up and the crowd laugh at him. Haha. Marvellous.  

 

Sano vs. Nogami is a prime demonstration of how much trouble this division would have been in without Liger. It’s so vanilla. Liger’s hybrid style, which includes healthy doses of lucha, is such a wonderful contrast. Oh, btw, this is the full version of this match. The version on NJ World is clipped. I can only assume they wanted to clip out Benoit’s botches. The back superplex on Nogami takes forever and looks ugly as sin. Although, most of it is Akira’s fault it just furthers the narrative that Pegasus Kid is a jackass. 

 

Sano knows Liger can take sick bumps so he starts dishing out the business. His kneeling powerbomb is SWANK~! If anything it’s Liger that makes everything work though, with his primo bumps. They’re so neat and tidy. Given that he made everyone around him look like world beaters, when they really weren’t, there’s a case for Liger being one of the greatest workers of all time. The ones who are regarded in that manner (Misawa, Kobashi etc) always had people to work with. Liger had fucking Nogami and Sano. No offence lads, but those guys were middling at best. 

 

The crowd get hyped by the time the dives sequence hits. They’re cooking out there. Everything builds. Liger’s timing and positioning are exemplary. He’s the glue that holds all the excitement together. Sano beats Nogami with a Tiger Suplex and Benoit looks relieved he made it through that complex shit near the end without fucking anything else up. I originally gave this four stars, but that was the clipped version. Showing the build probably makes it a better match but it also reveals the flaws in the other workers. Liger carried this to greatness. We’ll call it ***¾ because it was good fun.  

 

Blond Outlaws (Hiro Saito, Norio Honaga & Tatsutoshi Goto) vs. Kunaki Kobayashi, Kantaro Hoshino & Hiroshi Hase 

Only one of the blonds is blond (Goto), which feels like a trade descriptions issue. Saito is kinda strawberry blonde if we’re nitpicking. I’ve only seen the clipped version of this match, and this is the full match. Hoshino is super motivated and is out here throwing out the old man high spots. Like armdrags. The match clips along with frequent tags but it has to follow a spot heavy juniors match and all the armdrags in the world won’t change that.  

 

Hoshino steals the show, getting the crowd pumped up. He has this knack of making it look like he’s about to fall over when running the ropes but then not. It’s amazing. Everyone looks too tidy in wrestling nowadays. This is true chaos art. A forgotten business. His enthusiasm is infectious and this is a prime example of not doing movez for the sake of it but how you execute the most basic of things. A major concern of mine, about modern wrestling, is a lack of individuality. Everyone works the same*. 

 

*Like all generalisations, this is categorically false but you know what I mean. Someone like Zack Sabre Jr, working an entirely different style, stands out easily.  

 

There’s a brilliant example of Hoshinoism near the end. Kobayashi hits Goto in the corner, then Hase hits him in the corner and then Hoshino goes to follow up and gets knocked over by Goto raising his feet. You see that in Dragon Gate sometimes but it plays off the individual character work of Hoshino and it’s brilliant. Goto then wins with a Samoan Drop, on the unfortunate Hoshino, and we move on. I loved Hoshino in this match. An excellent example of individuality and being different in wrestling. 

 

AWA Championship 

Larry Zbyszko (c) vs. Masa Saito 

The AWA is nearly dead, which is why Larry is running around with the belt. Well, not running because it’s Zbyszko, but strolling somewhat. This happened much later in the evening, but this tape is all out of order for some reason. I scroll through the listings and wow, it’s in a WACKY order. This is match 6, following from match 3. Following this is match 10. Oh well.  

 

As with every Zbyszko match it’s very slow with lots of yelling and mat work. The crowd is so quiet you can hear every word Zbyszko is saying in there. 63,000 people who don’t want to watch the AWA. I can assure you, there were millions more. As they run though a lot of dated stuff, I resist the urge to fast forward. It is jarring to go from Hoshino working his ass off to adapt to the new era of wrestling that started in the late 80s and Zbyszko working like it’s still 1981.  

 

AWA was basically an Indie promotion at this stage. They were drawing a couple thousand to shows. Even the upcoming Superclash IV drew 2k and a show in Minnesota with Flair vs Pillman on top drew the same. The territory is dead. As with many dead American promotions, the belt and history remains respected in Japan, so Saito gets the crowd involved. In Larry’s defence, some of the mat work is nicely innovative and his selling of the bad wheel is comically overblown.  

 

By the time they hit the stretch, the crowd are nicely invested in a Saito victory. Like with most Zbyszko matches the whole thing peaks and then he cheats and it carries on for four minutes more. From a psychological POV it does make sense as Zbyszko would lose without cheating but Saito just blowing him away would make more sense, get Saito more over and who gives a shit about the AWA at this point? Also, Saito wins with a fucking inside cradle instead of pounding Larry to get the belt. It’s all a bit odd. A shame really as the match was surprisingly good. The crowd DOES THE MEXICAN WAVE AFTERWARDS TO CELEBRATE! I have never felt more alive! Verne Gagne, Greg Gagne, Nick Bockwinkel, Curt Hennig, the Minnesota Vikings, Jesse Ventura, Tim Walz, YOUR BOYS TOOK ONE HELL OF A BEATING.  

 

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Koji Kitao 

Hey, need a noob to pro wrestling to look like a million bucks? Call the Bammer!  

Kitao’s whole vibe is crazy good. He looks like a total badass. The mid-point between Hulk Hogan and Masahiro Chono. Just a little bit too goofy for it to fully work but he reeks of star material. Dude, how did you fuck this up? Given this is his DEBUT, second top in the Dome, and he’s over as shit, how did he not have a Hall of Fame career? He does irritate me somewhat by constantly going to a ‘fight stance’ while Bigelow is selling the impact of the spots.  

 

Kitao seems to have limited control over his body in spots but Bigelow just hurls him around. It’s amazing to see how gifted Bigelow is here. The way he jumps into Kitao’s big slam is beautiful. You can barely see it. It looks like Kitao is a monster. It’s hard to have a match with a guy who can’t wrestle at all but doing it second top at the Dome? That’s HARD brother. No wonder Vince put him in with LT at Mania.  

 

Bigelow is a proper worker. He’s prepared to make himself look bad to make Kitao look way better than he is but not so bad it ruins his aura. They have to improvise a finish after Kitao fucks it up, but Bigelow was a ring general here. The way he controlled the pace, gave Kitao time to rest and guided the rookie through his debut was sensational. This could of been, and probably should have been, a disaster. Kitao was NOT a good worker but a huge personality.  

 

PART 2  

 

We get a wrap up of that half of the show and then it’s back to the opener!  

 

Sidenote: I had to break away to yell at my internet service provider when my upload speed dropped to 0.10. Good fucking lord, my dudes, I pay for better than that. That’s third world wifi there. I’m connected by ethernet cable too! I eventually bought the proverbial bullet and upgraded to FULL FIBRE with promises from Sky of 900Mbps download speed. Hey, even if it only delivers a tenth of that I’ll be internet rich. NINE HUNDRED. Begone buffering, forever!  

 

Osamu Matsuda vs. Takayuki Iizuka 

Matsuda is about a year away from his lucha excursion, which changed his gimmick forever to El Samurai. Iizuka is the iron glove guy but as a young lion with no personality. As with almost every New Japan opener, ever, this is two guys with no gimmick doing basics for ten minutes. Iizuka wins here with a nice tabletop suplex, when I was kinda expecting a half crab of doom.  

 

Victor Zangiev vs. Brad Rheingans  

Here’s Antonio Inoki’s attempt at solving that pesky Cold War problem. Pitting wrestlers from the USSR and USA against each other in combat. Does the winner here also win the Cold War? A huge weight of expectations to put on the shoulders of Brad Rheingans! Zangiev was the star of the Russian-New Japan crossover arc, but he’s done dirty here. Left to job to a bland worker, who is a decade removed from his amateur glories. It is a little sad to see the Soviet shooters angle ending before my eyes. Especially in such uninspired fashion. The near falls near the end are rather spiffy, even if Brad looked blown up during them. He wins with an inside cradle. We’ll next see Zangiev at STARRCADE.  

 

Steve Williams vs. Salman Hashimikov 

This is the other side of the Cold War showdown. Hashimikov ended up being a bigger star than Zangiev but isn’t the worker Zangiev was. Doc has just defected from the NWA, and this begins his lengthy Japanese run, which goes right into the Attitude Era. He worked both New and All Japan in 1990, alternating between the two in confusing fashion before walking the King’s Road exclusively. Despite both men’s abilities Salman either isn’t capable of working this match or is deliberately obtuse in his approach. Doc has to muscle him around half the time. It’s an ugly, uncooperative mess. They could have solved this by just slapping each other around but the constant ‘takedown blocks’ and such ruin it. Hashimikov’s positioning is all wrong on his finisher/boot on the ropes. Oklahoma Stampede finishes and Hashimikov sandbags him on it. Not a prime example of pro-wrestling this one. 

 

IWGP Heavyweight Championship 

Big Van Vader (c) vs. Stan Hansen 

This match is famous for one thing, and it’s not the IWGP title. Hansen is an All Japan lifer and has been sent in here to test New Japan’s top gaijin. And by ‘test’, I mean we’re about to see some shit guys and gals. Both guys have a reputation for being stiff and the territoriality doesn’t help matters. Vader is particularly violent in the early going and Stan gets tagged in the face a few times. Vader somehow gets his shoulder busted open. It’s a violent, intense brawl before we get to the nasty stuff. 

 

I’ve watched this match several times and I’m still not sure where the blow comes from that fucks Vader’s eye up. There are a lot of heavy shots. It’s only when Vader takes his mask off and pushes his eye back into the socket that the damage is made clear. We get several disgusting close ups of how the eye has swollen shut. Zero visibility out of that right eye. Stan, at one point, backs into the corner and it’s like him saying “come on boy, come get your receipts in”. Vader proceeds to backfist him in the face three times.  

 

Because of course the match keeps going despite Vader’s facial injuries. The crowd seeing the injury is key. As soon as they see it, the reactions double. It’s a huge match for Vader as he overcomes adversity, and he gives Stan Hansen a fucking kicking. Nobody ever beat up Stan Hansen.  

 

While the match is mostly two guys walloping each other with forearms, it does also have a sequence where Hansen tries a lariat, and Vader blocks it with a DROPKICK. They brawl outside landing yet more heavy shots and both guys get predictably counted out. The chaotic nature of the finish does feel genuine though as both guys were driven by hate, not victory. A great match, aided by the disgusting eye injury. Vader couldn’t wrestle for more than two months afterwards but this cemented his legacy as a genuine tough guy. ****¼ 

 

Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Masahiro Chono 

This should (SHOULD) have been Inoki passing the torch to his younger generation stars. This is only the second match Inoki has wrestled since last May, as he’s gone into politics. But like many returning stars and waning stars over the years, ego overcomes the decision. It’s true that the crowd are thrilled to see Inoki, but Sakaguchi was effectively retired too. Just have him take the L.  

 

As a huge Hashimoto fan (my Twitter profile picture is a plush Hash) I would have loved to see him standing triumphantly over Inoki’s bloodied corpse at the finish of this show. I know Chono can’t take an armdrag to save his life but let’s just have a moment here. The failure of the booking extends to the referee; Lou Thesz. Like all old timers turned one-off referees he can’t seem to get a grasp on the simplest of refereeing tasks.  

 

Chono using the STF right in front of Thesz, who invented it, is a nice touch. Sakaguchi is just baggage. The longer the match goes, the more apparent it becomes. He’s completely finished as a worker. His son Yukio is only about 16 years old at the time but could probably have done a better job. Inoki finishes Chono with the Enzuigiri, with Thesz fucking up a count and Chono kicking out. Inoki, black eye and all, looks PISSED off. He got a black eye and a bloody lip and a fucked up finish. A true trilogy of shitty fortune.  

 

The more I think about it, the more I reckon this is the worst match on the show. Inoki booked himself to go long, based on previous glories, but he wasn’t that guy in 1990 and Sakaguchi had no business being in a main event at all. I feel bad for Hashimoto, who looked genuinely good here, but the match just sucks.  

 

BONUS!  

 

Kengo Kimura & Osamu Kido vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu 

With the NJ World section finished, we now have the cross-promotion matches between New Japan and All Japan. These are not on World at all. I’ve never watched this before because the VQ is terrible, and it is hard to watch. Jumbo gets the biggest pop, and is handily the biggest star in this, but everyone is a good worker.  

 

Due to the embargoed nature of the matches, there’s no commentary and indeed a deafening buzzing on the audio that renders the crowd noise ineffectual. Despite all these audio and visual issues, Jumbo Tsuruta is still a goddamn king here. It’s such a shame the man was cut down in his prime because 1989-1992 Jumbo is GOAT territory.  

 

To stand out in a match which consists of four strapping men in black trunks is an achievement in of itself. Yatsu gets picked off for heat and the match gets sluggish without Jumbo in it. The hot tag and double teaming that follows are equally disappointing and it’s clear the match has lost its way.  

 

The match regains some focus by having the NJPW duo work over Jumbo’s arm to try and get a submission. Jumbo, developing idiocy, keeps trying to go for a lariat with the bad arm. The crowd do get excited at the prospect of a New Japan guy besting Tsuruta but it’s short lived and Jumbo finishes with an ugly Thesz Press. Kido completely out of position for it. A surprisingly bad match suffering from poor ideas and planning.  

 

Riki Choshu & George Takano vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Tiger Mask II 

Normally the idea of Misawa working “The Cobra” would have been exciting but he’s a serial disappointment in ‘dream matches’. Only ever excelling when working his mates. However, 1990 is the year Misawa became Misawa. The other side of this is Choshu ‘invaded’ AJPW a few years back and there’s still beef between him and Tenryu based on that. Oddly enough there’s Tenryu-Takano link too as Takano will jump to the SWS in a few months.  

 

Make no mistake about it, this match is all about Choshu and Tenryu. There’s HATE in their clashes. Pure hate. The crowd can feel it and react accordingly. I like that Takano kicks Tenryu’s ass and TM2 has to save him. It shows the elevation of Misawa in 1990 that he steps up to the plate here.  

 

I love the crowd going “oooohhh” when Takano does the Tiger Suplex on Tiger Mask. It’s not even a particularly close fall, just a laugh. Tenryu then ups his game and lays in some CHOPS on Choshu. Oh, man, the HATE. When Tenryu was motivated, he was a motherfucker. It’s a shame he wasn’t motivated very often.  

 

Misawa sullies the viciousness by taking a couple of dopey bumps. The cartoon mask is putting him off still. Every time it feels like the match is losing a little steam they go back to Choshu-Tenryu, and I am revived! While Misawa and Takano are good technically, they lack the fire of the other men. I love that Tenryu threatens to do the Maeda on Choshu, only to pull his shot completely but Choshu had THE FEAR in his eyes.  

 

The match degenerates into a big old scrap that the referee can’t deal with. He’s constantly trying to point out who’s legal and nobody cares. Tenryu murders Takano with a lariat off the apron. Choshu gets Tenryu in the Sharpshooter, but the referee isn’t looking because he’s too busy counting Takano out from the lariat. AJPW win on count out! ***¾. A great little match, loaded with action and despicably beautiful hatred. A nice way to end this venture. Thank you, Riki!  

 

The 411: 

I feel I was a little hard on this when I reviewed it before and that’s probably because I watched it out of context. Seeing it in the context of the stinking awful year for pro-wrestling that was 1990, changes things. New Japan pulled out all the stops with the cross-promotion. Having Tenryu-Choshu, Jumbo Tsuruta in action and Vader-Hansen on the same card is pretty astonishing in retrospect. I guess everyone was getting along just fine and then Tenryu had to fuck it all up.  

 

It’s the best show of 1990 (so far) and I’m struggling to think of an American show that would surpass it. Even the things that didn’t work as well like Zangiev-Rheingans or Saito-Zbyszko had merit. The only NWA shows I think could compete (WrestleWar and Great American Bash) might share the highs but have much lower lows.  

 

So yeah, it’s a thumbs up…apart from to Sky for my internet connection. Come out and fix that shit! I need higher speeds.