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NJPW "TOUKON SHOP 10TH ANNIVERSARY", 5/25/03 (WPW/NJ+IWTV Internet) (Buy)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall 1,931 Fans - Super No Vacancy Full House
1. Toru Yano beat Naofumi Yamamoto (7:08) with a crab hold.
I picked up this tape from Trent Walters' japantapes.com, so go and check it out. The second show of New Japan's junior festival saw the company return to Korakuen Hall, before it's biggest crowd there in ages. Although it wasn't "2,100" like other companies claim, New Japan has never sold 2,100 tickets (at least not in recent history) because of a different seating set-up, so 1,931 is almost overfull for them in the building. As always, the atmosphere was good in Korakuen, continuing the chain of New Japan shows to have decent to great heat besides 3/21 and 4/19 since the March tour up to this point (don't believe the myth, the majority of New Japan taped shows, at least after February, HAVE had good heat! Only a deaf person or someone who doesn't actually watch New Japan regularly would say otherwise). The opening match was pretty long for the rookies, and subsequently was very basic for a long time. Later on, it turned into an intense fight with strong strike flurries by both men. Yano, being the more experienced, was stronger and showed again that he's almost ready to break out of the opening match scene. The second bout saw another star performance by Tiger Mask, who has been really impressive lately. He is so skilled, if I had to ask just one thing out of him as New Japan's new generation junior leader though, it would be more interaction with the fans. He and Naruse faced Jado & Gedo in a good, shortish match, the best sort for the Brawl Brothers. Tiger Mask hit a sweet bullet tope, which would become a repeating trend on the night. The finish was great, with Gedo going to pick Naruse up, but Naruse tripping him and in a flash applying his new Naruse Lock, which Gedo tapped out to INSTANTLY. Good stuff. The third match was short and to the point, although there was nothing memorable about it. This bout saw the worst moment of the show, however, something so criminal that New Japan should be punished thoroughly. NO SENTON FROM HIRO IN KORAKUEN! Goto's popularity was amazing, but Hiro, another Korakuen Hall favourite, was too obscure, and didn't even hit a senton. The Best of the Super Jr. chain of matches started next, and the first between Fujita and rookie Taguchi was surprisingly my favourite of the night. I was doubtful when I read a report of the show saying it was so good, but now I believe it! There wasn't much rope work, "avalanche-style" moves, and such, but just good, intense wrestling between two of New Japan's young juniors. For Taguchi, every match in the tournament had to be a learning experience, and perhaps difficult. What I mean is, New Japan rookies are taught to do the bare essentials in their first year, and here was Taguchi, gaining late entry into the Super Junior tournament, and trying really hard to be something other than a regular rookie. He worked his heart out here, debuting a swan dive dropkick, and doing any other cool stuff that his experience would allow. The heat for the match was tremendous later on, because Taguchi pushed Fujita and got many near falls. Fujita was awesome (and became the second man to hit a tope suicida on the show), so charismatic and fiery, working well with the inexperienced Taguchi. Fujita won in the end, but it was a great effort by Taguchi, and his best bout since debuting. AKIRA vs. Sugiura could have been better, but had a good second half. The first half was a little bland, with Sugiura controlling and not doing much besides strikes. He did bust out a few submissions though, including a wakigatame and cross armbreaker. The match really picked up when AKIRA went after Sugiura's knees, and dropped a Musasabi press on them. The closing stretch was fast paced, with both men bringing out the bombs and going all out for the win. AKIRA forced the tap out with a sweet STF, that resembled a cross camel clutch a little. Minoru Suzuki, New Japan trueborn now representing Pancrase Mission, walked to the ring with a mean expression on his face before the next match, looking badass. Suzuki named Liger, Chono, Takayama, and Kanemoto (in that order) as fighters he's interested in facing. Backstage, Naruse confronted him and talked about their past in the fighting world, and challenged him to a match at Budokan. Suzuki accepted, and they clasped hands in respect. The last tournament match of the show was strange... I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure if everyone would. It was Kanemoto vs. Samurai, a rematch from the memorable 1997 final. This was brutally stiff, they hit each other so hard. Kanemoto nearly KO'd Samurai in the early minutes with a flurry of kicks to the head, and Sammy barely made it to his feet. Later on, Samurai went after Kanemoto with SICK punches to the head, which seemed to hurt Kanemoto (who was holding his face backstage). Samurai became the fourth man (the third was AKIRA) to land a tope suicida, making it four matches in a row! The finish was strange. Samurai had been dominating, and Kanemoto made a sudden comeback with his ankle hold, only for Samurai to skillfully turn it into a cradle for the win. This was... different, I dug it, you'd have to see it for yourself to figure out whether you would though. The show took a major style twist for the next two matches, beginning with Yoshie & Tanahashi vs. Yanagisawa & Makai #1. Yasuda was originally supposed to team with Yanagisawa, but boycotted shows again. Most of the match saw Tanahashi take a beating from Makai, before making his comeback and tagging Yoshie. Yoshie was on FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR, taking it to both Makai opponents. The finish saw Tanahashi hit Yanagisawa with a corner charge dropkick, then Irish whip him into a Yoshie FAT BOY THESZ PRESS. The referee counted to one, counted to two, then... stopped the match. Apparently he saw Yanagisawa KO'd, and rather than count to three, stopped the match. Yanagisawa looked dead, and had an ice pack held against his neck. FEAR THE BULK OF YOSHIE. Yoshie & Tanahashi's march to their second successive IWGP Tag Team Title shot at Chono & Tenzan gained steam. The second brawl was of a different kind. Harimao'z were scheduled to face Nagata & Nakamura, but merely acted as seconds for Kazunari Murakami. Nagata & Nakamura entered second and stood at ringside as Murakami called out Katsuyori Shibata! A big scream went up in the crowd, and Shibata returned! But wasn't he Makai #4? Given that Makai #4 was stood at ringside, it looks like they were trying to tell us something. Anyway, Shibata made his return (as himself), sporting jet black hair, open finger vale tudo gloves, and a MEAN expression. He also looked heavier than before his injury, having bulked up to become a heavyweight. A wild fight started, with Shibata going after Nagata and Murakami against Nakamura. Shibata beat the heck out of Nagata at ringside with punch after punch to the head, until Nagata was knocked senseless. Nakamura held his own against Murakami, but when it became two against one, the numbers were too much. He took a wild beating from the Psycho Brothers, who punched and kicked him into a daze. After a while, Nagata made his triumphant comeback and went CRAZY to mad heat in Korakuen. "Killer" Nagata was back, and this seems to be the most popular form of Nagata. The four continued the hot fight, spilling outside of the ring. When the referee couldn't control them anymore, he threw the match out, displeasing (to put it mildly) the fans. WILD brawl, Shibata looked insane and made a big impression in his return match. From struggling up the junior ladder to beating up Nagata! Not a bad transition. This set up Nagata vs. Shibata for Budokan, and did a good job of it. After the two brawls, another change of pace was needed, and we got a pure pro wrestling tag to finish the show. This was another lead-in to Takayama vs. Tenzan in Osaka, so the focus was largely on those brawling hulks. This was a solid wrestling match to finish things off, and heated up Takayama vs. Tenzan (though not as much as 5/23). Nishimura vs. Takayama is a GOLD pairing always, and this was no exception, with the two busting out the bridges and knuckle lock suplexes. Tenzan vs. Takayama was less glamorous and more to the point, hard-hitting. Tenzan and Nishimura have strangely good teamwork, strange because of their opposite styles, but they play off each others' strengths well to create a great team. Takayama & Makabe failed to win the IWGP Tag Team Title in March, and despite a strong fight, were again beaten today. Makabe fell to Tenzan's TTD, which provoked a big post-match brawl between Tenzan and Takayama. Then Yoshie, Tanahashi, and Chono got in the ring, so both Tenzan vs. Takayama and Chono & Tenzan vs. Yoshie & Tanahashi were in focus. Takayama was seriously pissed off at Tenzan's badmouthing and charged through a horde of seconds at him. The trek to Osaka continued... Another really entertaining Korakuen Hall show. New Japan has been putting on some pretty big matches there lately, and the results are interesting shows with good wrestling, good brawling, and lots of storyline progression. Best bout of the show for me was Fujita vs. Taguchi (I loved it!), followed by the main event.
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[2] (12:10) with an STF.