SWS Wrestle Dream in Kobe (1.4.91) review 

 

April 4, 1991 

 

We’re in Koba at World Hall for SWS’s second big show with the WWF guys they have on tour. The first one was in the Tokyo Dome and drew a sizeable, if underwhelming compared to NJPW, crowd. It was also heavily papered to make it look less shit. This one has drawn 5,877. Capacity is 8000. That’s a little worrying. And yes, it is THAT show.  

 

Journalists joked that SWS used a dinosaur as the logo because it would soon be extinct. The promotion ceases to exist in June 1992, so they were correct.  

 

Masao Orihara vs. Kenichi Oya 

Oya you may know from FMW, where he spent a lot of time. Orihara you’ve probably seen in several promotions. He was quite prominent in SWS’s successor WAR. They have a very basic match here. The kind of thing that young boys usually work. It is uninspired grapplefuckery. Why is this not clipped, for the love of Christ? Orihara eventually wakes me up by doing a TORPEDO MOSCOW TO OYA’S BOLLOCKS. It was supposed to be a Lionsault, I think, but he slipped. Incredibly good fortune to land his head in Oya’s plums though. What a spot! Honestly, they should have called an audible because the match won’t get any better.  

 

They fuck up a monkey flip to the floor, and the crowd let them know they think it sucks. Orihara eventually gives the marks what they want; the Orihara Moonsault. Orihara was one of those guys who could do high spots but sucked at everything else. The new generation of wrestler we saw in the 1990s, more and more. Anyway, they fuck another couple of things up and Oya wins. LOL. Certainly, a match of contrasts. The high spots are insanely good. Orihara’s mule kick, German suplex and moonsault to the floor ruled. They spent ages doing boring grapplefuck though and half the things they attempted went wrong.  

 

Samson Fuyuki vs. Tatsumi Kitahara   

Ah, Samson Fuyuki. Surely, he must regret leaving All Japan at this point? Kitahara is like Shinya Hashimoto…only shittier. He has that same fat Elvis look and kicks people. The crowd, once again, don’t care about anything they do here. Orihara Moonsault lads, that’ll get you over. Kitahara eventually gets the crowd going with some kicks (told you). Fuyuki doesn’t seem to have any idea how to sell them. Fuyuki, a solid 6.5/10 wrestler in All Japan, has dropped to around 4.5/10 here. The finish is utter wank. A backdrop driver off the ropes, countered, then countered back and Samson pins for the win. The crowd boo it, which should tell you how much it sucked.  

 

Minoru Suzuki vs. Apollo Sugawara 

This was clipped off the tape, but it’s on YouTube, and it does have relevance to the show. Basically, it’s supposed to be Suzuki demonstrating shootstyle but they put him in with someone who doesn’t seem to enjoy shootstyle. It’s still going ok until Suzuki hits a palm strike. From there it rapidly degenerates into an actual shoot with Apollo grabbing a headlock and refusing to let go. The crowd boo and for a moment it looks like they’ll be dragged apart by the seconds. Suzuki, being Suzuki, SLAPS HIM AGAIN and Sugawara bails, refusing to continue. The crowd boo the shit out of him. Imagine allowing a match to degenerate into a shoot! I hope it doesn’t give anyone ideas backstage!  

 

Sidenote: I’m amazed they let Sugawara stay in the company after this. While Suzuki did bait him, his actions were unprofessional and embarrassed the promotion.  He does get a lot of heat, and the crowd are very pro-Suzuki because of it. Of course, Suzuki only wrestled a few more matches for SWS. Of course. 

 

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Fumihiro Niikura 

Niikura retired in 1987 after suffering a heart attack. This comeback is relatively short lived and he’d end up as restaurant owner and penned two books about his time in the squared circle. Fujiwara has landed a few headbutts and nearly removed Niikura’s arm before a minute is up. Fujiwara is GOLD here. He’s so casually outstanding at wrestling that he can dismantle Niikura at will. Occasionally Fujiwara just lets Niikura put him in a hold so he can find an interesting way out of it. Niikura tries to punch Fujiwara and Fujiwara just ignores him. Ok mate, we get it, you can beat him now.  

 

Fujiwara isn’t finished playing and feigns injury so he can just stand up and continue like nothing happened. Niikura is like…please mate, my kids are watching.  

Further down the line he just lies back, relaxing in a heel hook. Paint me like your French girls? This is one of the biggest “I am a fucking jerk, fuck you” performances I have ever seen. He goes to break Niikura’s arm, and Niikura sensibly decides to give up before something serious happens. Phenomenal performance from Fujiwara here although Niikura would be completely useless after this. Hiliarious. Very enjoyable. *** 

 

Naoki Sano vs. Masakatsu Funaki 

This is a rematch from Tokyo, and I don’t think that match was very good. This feels better, like they ironed the kinks out from last time. Funaki, hoping to replicate his mentor’s jerkiness, kicks Sano after he’s already down and when he beats the count immediately German suplexes him. This seems to suffer from being right after the Fujiwara match as the crowd seem disconnected. Maybe they just hate SWS. I would get that.  

 

The match takes ages to get going when they finally start landing strikes, but everything is so slow paced and spread out. As soon as it gets exciting, they go back to the mat. The first match was 10 minutes long, this is TWENTY THREE. Sano can’t get anything either and when he finally lands a German suplex Funaki counters right out into an armbar for the win. While technically fine, this was a chore to sit through. My main complaint about the last match was that Funaki probably should have finished it quicker and this is more than double the length. Which means it’s twice as bad. 

 

Takashi Ishikawa & Great Kabuki vs. Ishinriki & Kendo Nagasaki 

Ishinriki was really fun to watch last time out. He’s a rare bright spot on these SWS cards. I would describe his approach here as “unorthodox”. It’s like he’s seen pro wrestling but hasn’t actually been taught pro wrestling. The wrestling world needs people like this to keep everything fresh. If everyone wrestles the same, it’s boring. His cartwheel into a superkick to escape a wrist lock is great stuff. The match should showcase him as he’s clearly a star in the making, but instead we get to watch old wrestlers roll around doing very little instead. Ishikawa does a decent job of selling for Ishinriki and takes his headscissors. He also takes the springboard PLANCHAAAAAA. Then he just backslides Ishinriki for the pin to drain every ounce of energy out of the building. Fuck off, SWS.  

 

John Tenta vs. Koji Kitao 

Oh….it’s this match. So, they wrestled at the Tokyo Dome with Tenta winning. This is the rematch and he’s scheduled to go over again. Apparently, both locker rooms got in the ears of these two with the idea that their entire sumo lifestyle and countries were going to war.  

It starts out ok; there’s not a warning in the opening exchanges of what’s to come. Kitao suddenly bails and throws a table at the ropes. Uh oh – Susan St James. Kitao then goes after an armbar, and Tenta swats him away. Tenta clearly has felt something wrong in Kitao’s body language or the way he’s touching him. Tenta, to be fair to him, tries to get things back on track with a lock up, but Kitao kicks at him and Tenta grabs his foot and there’s trouble a brewing.  

 

It’s fascinating to watch a guy who’s completely lost it and is about to burn his career to the ground. Kitao tries to poke Tenta in the eyes and that gets the kind of angry response you would expect from the big man. Tenta is fighting for his life out there. They could still salvage it if Kitao just started working again. “This is pro wrestling” reminds Tenta and we simply clip away with no finish shown. Hoooooo boy. In the arena the referee improvised a DQ and Kitao cut a promo into the house microphone about how wrestling is fake, and he could beat Tenta in a real fight. Despite having basically been schooled by a guy who didn’t know he was about to be in a shoot. Tenta did an incredible job of protecting the business here. Kitao was promptly fired by SWS.  

 

That should have been the end of him as a pro-wrestler, having been fired by New Japan and SWS in the space of a year. Not to mention being expelled from sumo wrestling. Takada had him in UWFi for a while before Genichiro Tenryu, who offered to leave the company here over this embarrassment, hired Kitao to work for WAR. Kitao did eventually reform his character and returned to sumo later in life to coach but boy, is he a dickhead here. A real piece of shit.  

 

Bret Hart vs. George Takano 

Don’t get too excited, every time Bret works in Japan he seems to have these mediocre matches. His early 80s New Japan stuff isn’t good, neither is the Misawa match (Tiger Mask II) and this tour is the same. If anything, this is arguably his best match in Japan because Takano is willing to take some shit off him and Bret has gained a lot of confidence in his ability. I get my second STF of the flashback series, courtesy of George, and they do some solid stuff.  

 

The crowd don’t get into the match, but Bret does work snug. His strikes are nice and tidy. His moveset really clicks nicely together. Takano doesn’t quite get on the same page and treats the inverted atomic drop like a kill shot. It’s weird watching Bret throw everything at the wall here, trying to figure out what the fans want. Bret doesn’t have the Sharpshooter yet, so he does a Boston crab, and Takano uses the power of push-ups to escape it. Bret’s so smooth and clean here. It’s a showcase of what’s to come. Takano takes it with a top rope splash.  

 

Bret looked clinical as fuck here. He’s immediately dropped into that singles role that he’ll be rocking for the rest of the decade after eventually escaping the Hart Foundation. This was a really good little match. ***¼ 

 

Randy Savage vs. Genichiro Tenryu 

The ‘retired’ Randy Savage continues to not be retired here. Considering Savage got a miracle out of Ultimate Warrior, you would think Tenryu would be an easier ask. This is a rematch from their Wrestling Summit match in 1990 (***½, Sherri was great). This seems far less energised by comparison. Mainly because Tenryu can’t wrestle as an underdog here, as the promotion’s top guy. Savage repeatedly tries to get Tenryu to chase him around the ring, and Tenryu isn’t buying it.  

 

Savage has this won with the Big Elbow but instead of pinning Tenryu, he stops off to yell about how great he is. Hey, Warrior kicked out of five of those things, it’s a dead move. Tenryu lands a few nice looking chops, but they don’t seem to be on the same page after the near fall. The crowd chuckle after Tenryu takes two weird bumps out of the corner. It’s like Savage didn’t know what the spot was and they still re-did it and fucked it up again.  

 

Considering the match doesn’t reach 10:00, they get a lot in. Sadly, a lot of it goes wrong. Tenryu can’t bump a hot shot on the ropes and then they fuck the finish up. Savage sandbagging on the powerbomb. There was some cool stuff in this match but boy, was it a fucking mess in the last few minutes. Wrestling Summit was way better. 

 

Tenryu probably should have offered to quit because of this match, not the Kitao issue. He was legitimately awful.  

 

WWF Championship 

Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu 

Hogan looks far less drunk than in the Tokyo Dome where he had a fun tag brawl with the Road Warriors. This is one of those Hogan performances where he’s watching all the shootstyle earlier and is all “I can do that, brother” and breaks out that one piece of chain wrestling he knows. You know the one; the little hammerlock reversal into drop down trip up he does. He also busts out this incredibly clumsy looking armbar. What is happening?  

This is after he’s wrestled, not powered, out of a full nelson into a wristlock and swept the leg. Who the fuck is this guy? Grapplefuck Hogan. He wants a shot at the Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi belt, brother. This is the point where he runs out of stuff and does the hammerlock reversal dropdown toe hold thing again. I’m onto you, Terry! Hogan doesn’t understand a few spots in this, which result in comedy. Firstly, Yatsu clocks him across the bridge of the nose with a forearm, which Hogan tried to block. Next, and much funnier, Hogan tries to sidestep a missile dropkick only to not move far enough and get a boot in the jaw. 

 

This is what happens when I try hard, brother. Oh, and he takes a hilarious knees bump off a bulldog too. The match is clearly taking its toll on the Hulkster and he calls an audible and finishes with the Axe Bomber. Haha. 20 minutes? That doesn’t work for me, brother. We can do tonight in seven minutes, Jack. This was both funny and shockingly entertaining. *** 

 

You can see why Hogan never bothered working hard though. He got hurt multiple times in this match because he couldn’t keep up and he could get bigger reactions by doing nothing at all. Still, nice to see he gave enough of a shit to try here.  

 

The 411: 

SWS was such an odd experience. You saw far more botches here than in any other big promotion running at the time. And not just from undercard scrubs but from genuine stars. Tenryu botched like four times in the semi-main. It’s also fascinating watching American wrestlers trying to vibe out Japan. Bret couldn’t seem to connect. Hogan totally changed how he wrestled. This show is ultimately famous for not one, but two matches devolving into shoots. Minoru Suzuki was apparently concerned he may have ended his own career here. Koji Kitao effectively did. SWS is a wild ride. I might as well enjoy it while it lasts. They’re probably going to be on my shortlist for worst promotion though.