1993.01.04 WCW - New Japan Super Show III

Turner’s editing goons butchered this one due to length and perceived interests. They didn’t think that American audiences would give a shit about Tenryu or Fujinami, and they didn’t want to push the Steiners because they left the company. So we get a show that has an NWA World Title match second from the top to a match that features an unmotivated Sting against career mid-carder Hiroshi Hase. No wonder this was the last WCW/New Japan show on PPV in the states for a while. The matches that are on this are great, but they are way out of sequence of how they actually happened, so I’ve included them with results and times and Meltzer’s star ratings from Cagematch.net so the card will have a sense of being more complete. There’s a distinct lack of star power here, as we’ve only got Sting, Ron Simmons, Dustin Rhodes, and the Steiners on the card. No Arn Anderson, Barry Windham, Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Rick Steamboat, Vader, Cactus Jack, or so many others. Let’s see how it went down:


Heisei Ishingun (Akitoshi Saito, Masashi Aoyagi, Shiro Koshinaka & The Great Kabuki) defeat Raging Staff (Hiro Saito, Norio Honaga, Super Strong Machine & Tatsutoshi Goto) (14:20 *** ½ from Dave Meltzer on Cagematch, but I would think that it should get ***** because the name of the one team is “Raging Staff”.) This wasn't included on the PPV or VHS release that I have.


IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship:

Ultimo Dragon (champion)

Vs

Jushin Thunder Liger

Dragon was not a New Japan guy here, he was a freelancer, but he’d won the IWGP Junior title from Liger. They do a lot of flippy floppy cruiserweight stuff, including shitload of armdrags. Liger starts working Dragon’s knee, and Ross and Schiavone have absolutely no idea how to call any of this. It’s almost comical. Dragon counters and starts working his own knee hold, the Indian Deathlock. Liger gets all of his stuff, including the bow and arrow and tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. He grabs a sleeper, and I get bored. Dragon escapes and goes into a crazy leglock/Dragon sleeper, but Liger escapes. Dragon goes right to a camel clutch. For two guys who bounce around the ring, these two are keeping it right on the mat and slow as can be. Slam from Dragon, and he goes up. Liger meets him there, but Dragon pushes him off. He slips and misses a kick and they go to the floor. Dragon leaps off the top and over the railing onto Liger, who hits the small of his back on the press table. Dragon brings him in with a brainbuster, which gets 2. Liger reverses a tombstone, and they fight over that, with Dragon finally getting it and going up. He slips off the top AGAIN and can’t hit his move. He hits a weird bridging reverse powerslam for 2. Liger gets a rollup for 2. Dragon gets a rollup for 2. Bridging German by Dragon for 2, but Liger is in the ropes. Liger hits the Kappo kick, then hits a Ligerbomb on the floor. He hits a somersault dive to the floor. God damn. Back in, and Liger hits a German for 2. Shoten by Liger, then he gets a half-crab. Dragon makes the ropes, so Liger stiffs him with a powerbomb. Christ that looked unsafe. Liger goes up, and Dragon clotheslines him coming down and knocks him to the floor. He hits the Asai Moonsault, which might be the first time it had been seen on North American TV. Dragon goes for the victory roll, but Liger flapjacks him. Dragon gets a rollup for 2, then another Asai moonsault. Dragon with a Ligerbomb for 2. Dragon with La Majestral cradle for 2. Dragon goes to the top, but Liger gets up there and hits a DDT for 2. Running Ligerbomb, and he sets Dragon on top, and he hits a top rope rana for the pin. That was really good, and a really great way to open this on PPV. (20:09 *** ¾)


Ron Simmons

Vs

Tony Halme

Simmons had just lost the WCW World title to Big Van Vader. Halme is better known to North American fans as Ludvig Borga, evil Fin. This will not be a technical masterpiece, and Jim Ross apologizes before the match even starts. Halme is not as bad as I remember, and he basically wrestles the entire match as a white Ron Simmons. Lots of side slam/punch/elbow/spinebuster type offense from Halme. Simmons falls to the floor, and Halme suplexes him back in. Powerslam by Halme gets 2. Simmons hits a really sloppy powerslam for 2. Inside cradle for 2 by Simmons for 2. He gets another one for 2. Really, really bad spinebuster by Simmons gets the pin. Simmons botched every single move in his comeback at the end. (6:10 DUD)


Dustin Rhodes & Scott Norton

Vs

Masa Saito & Shinya Hashimoto

Saito is filling in for Antonio Inoki here, because Inoki has an infection in his foot. Or he doesn’t want to work with Dustin Rhodes. Not sure. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen Hashimoto wrestle before. Norton no-sells chops and punches from Hash, then mows him down a couple of times. Norton just won’t sell for him at all. Dustin comes in, and Hashimoto just hits him right in the throat. Here’s Saito, who was about fifty here and on the tail end of his career. He wasn’t afraid to give Dustin some offense, probably due to the respect that he had for Dusty more than anything else. That’s total conjecture, but I would think so because Dustin was really young, and not proven in Japan at all. Norton comes back in and they start stiffing each other, because I don’t think that he knew any other way. Saito takes a bit of a pounding, but comes back with his Saito suplex on both guys. Norton cuts that off, and Norton and Dustin are working as heels here. Hashimoto comes back in, and he starts working Dustin with some head shots. Dustin hits the flip, flop, fly for 2. He grabs a chinlock to ground Hashimoto, and tags in Norton, who sets Hash on the top rope, hitting a superplex. He doesn’t cover him; he just stands on Hashimoto’s throat. Neckbreaker, but Norton is just being cocky and won’t go for the pin. Dustin comes in and kicks him in the face and gets a couple of near-falls. They go to the floor, because it’s like the compulsory movements in gymnastics, you have to go to the floor in New Japan. Rhodes with a DDT, and he tags Norton in. Norton with a powerslam, but Saito breaks up the pin at 2. Slam gets 2, and another save by Saito. Norton misses a charge and tags Saito. Saito goes wild with the chops, hitting the Saito suplex on Norton a couple of times, getting 2 the second time. Norton hits a powerslam, and Hash makes the save. Rhodes comes in, and he hits a lariat for 2. Saito suplex, and he tags Hashimoto, and Dustin dropkicks him. Hash dodges a charge in the corner, and he just kicks Dustin in the chest as hard as he can. Spin kick gets 2. Huge clothesline gets 2 for Hashimoto. Four-way brawl breaks out, and Hashimoto hits a leaping DDT for 2. Enziguiri gets the pin for Hashimoto on Dustin. Excellent tag match. (13:57 *** ¾)


NWA World Title Vs IWGP Heavyweight Championship:

Masahiro Chono (Champion)

Vs

The Great Muta (IWGP Champion)

I’m not sure if this is a title versus title match, or if only the NWA title is on the line. Ross and Schiavone commentate like it’s only the NWA title, but Wikipedia and Cagematch.net both say both belts are on the line. I’ll believe them as opposed to WCW, who made shit up on the fly all the time. Chono won the NWA title in the 1992 G1 Climax by defeating Mutoh in the finals. Muta is in tremendous shape. He’d won the Battlebowl at Starrcade about a week earlier. They feel each other out for a while, then Muta goes to the floor and grabs a wrench from under the ring. The ref takes it from him, and he goes back in and starts kicking Chono. He gets a Fujiwara armbar, and they keep it on the mat. Chono starts working the knee with a grapevine, then he starts kicking at it. They do a test of strength, and Chono gets a drop toehold. He locks in an Indian deathlock, but Muta gets right to the ropes. To the floor, briefly, then Muta comes off the top back in with a chop to the top of the head. He tosses Chono to the ramp, and bulldogs him there. He goes like 40 yards up the ramp and just dead sprints at Chono and NAILS him with a clothesline. Chono runs over and just punches him in the face. They fight over a superplex, and Muta gets it. Saito suplex gets 2 for Muta. He gets a bridging German for 2. Handspring elbow, and Muta goes up, but he misses the moonsault. Chono grabs the STF, but Muta won’t give up. He slides over to the ropes, forcing the break. Chono with a kick, then Muta hits a dropkick. Suplex by Muta, but Chono floats over and gets a cradle for 2. He goes up and hits a shoulderblock for 2. Powerbomb by Chono for 2. Muta goes for the moonsault again, this time hitting Chono’s knees with his head. Chono goes up, but this time Muta dodges the shoulderblock. Backbreaker, and this time he hits the moonsault, but Chono is out at 2! He goes up again! Another moonsault! That gets the pin! Great match. (19:48 **** ¼)


Akira Nogami, El Samurai & Takayuki Iizuka

Vs

Koki Kitahara, Masao Orihara & Nobukazu Hirai

This was actually the show opener, but thanks to some shenanigans, they put it here. These guys are all from WAR, and this match wasn’t supposed to be on the WCW PPV version of this show, but they had to throw it on to replace the Steiner Brothers Vs Hell Raisers match that went to a DCOR because the Steiners signed with the WWF between the time the match was taped and the time it was broadcast. They also had to have Eric Bischoff do the commentary, because Jim Ross had also signed with the WWF in that time. Bischoff does a great job of actually calling the moves in the match, which is different from how he was when he was calling Nitro a few years later. I guess he learned a lot from Verne Gagne. This is very Lucha-esque, as guys are just switching in and out. American fans who watched this might have remembered Iizuka from the horrible beating the Steiners gave him at Superbrawl II. Hirai gets caught in the other corner, and they just start dissecting his knee. Iizuka locks in a knee submission, but Hirai makes the ropes. He turns it into a half-crab, then Nogami comes in. He gets a half-crab of his own. The heat segment on Hirai is long and brutal, but he dodges a dropkick and hits something that Bischoff calls a “Back leg front kick”, then he gets the hot tag. Bischoff starts calling all the kicks as they would be called in martial arts, therefor annoying the shit out of me. Kitahara gets caught in the other corner for another heat segment, but he hot tags Hirai, because he’s an idiot, and they cut him right off. Samurai hits a piledriver, then sets for a superplex. Tombstone, then he goes up and nails a flying headbutt for 2. Another piledriver, and Orihara comes in. Nogami starts kicking Kitahara, but Kitahara gets a German for 2. Iizuka hits a powerbomb on Hirai for 2. I think Hirai might be dead. They keep breaking up every single pin. Huge brawl breaks out, and Iizuka just pins Hirai. They call for the doctor right away, and I think Hirai might be really injured. (15:11. ***)


Sting

Vs

Hiroshi Hase

This was nowhere close to the top of the card in Japan, it was actually right after the Simmons/Halme match and before the Norton & Rhodes Vs Saito & Hashimoto match. Hase was so excellent, and Sting always had the ability to rise to the occasion when he had a good opponent. They shake hands, and Sting mows him down and press slams him with about six reps. Very nice. Big dropkick, and another. Hase bails to the floor and Sting plays to the crowd. Hase comes back in and chops him a few times. He grabs a headlock, and they both go for dropkicks. Hase takes him down and goes for a half-crab. He gets an Indian Deathlock, then the bridge. Hase does a hip wiggle, a la Rick Rude, then he starts working the knee. Hase teases the Scorpion, but Sting fights out of it. Sting starts kicking, but Hase drags him to the middle and gets the half-crab again. Sting hits a suplex, and they blow an Irish whip, and Hase gets a Russian legsweep. Hase puts him in a fireman’s carry and drops him on the top rope. Swinging neckbreaker gets 2 for Hase. Piledriver, and Hase goes up. Knee from the top gets 2. Hase with a sleeper, but it’s more of a choke. They go to the mat, and the ref breaks it. They go to the floor, and Hase runs him to the rail. Back in, and Hase hits a couple of Urinages, and that gets 2. Bridging German gets 1 for Hase. Hase grabs a full-nelson, but Sting leverages him to the floor, where Sting slams him. He drops him on the rail a couple of times, then throws him back in. Hase is too far away, and Sting fucks up a bodypress because of it. Sting starts no-selling Hase’s chops, and he splashes him in the corner. Bulldog, and Sting gets 2. Hanging backbreaker by Sting. I wish someone would bring that back. They do the bridge/backslide spot, and Sting springs backward off the second rope and hits Hase in the face for 2. Bridging German by Sting gets 2. Hase with a rolling reverse for 2. Sting gets a clothesline for 2. Hase goes for a Urinage, but Sting blocks it and hits a leaping DDT. Slam, and Sting goes up. Top rope splash gets the pin for Sting. Well, that finish was certainly anti-climactic. (15:31. *** ¾)


These three weren’t shown on the WCW PPV, but were the top three matches on the actual live show:


The Hell Raisers (Hawk & Kensuke Sasaki) DCOR Rick & Scott Steiner (14:38 Meltzer: ****. I’ve seen it. It’s not nearly that good. More like **)


Tatsumi Fujinami d. Takashi Ishikawa (11:41 Meltzer: *** ½)


Genichiro Tenryu d. Riki Choshu (18:14 Meltzer: ****)


The Bottom Line: Without the top three matches, and the way things are moved around, this watches like a 1995 episode of Nitro: Good matches, but nothing to write home about. Thumbs up for the wrestling content, but do yourself a favor and see if you can track down the full card, with the matches in the right order.