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NJPW/Muga "2002 MUGA IN TOKYO", 10/6/02 (SXW/WPW) (Buy)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall 1,611 Fans - Super No Vacancy
1. Masahito Kakihara beat Toru Yano (4:33) with the Kaki Cutter.
The first show of "FIGHTING SPIRIT SERIES PROLOGUE 2002" was one of the specially themed New Japan and Muga mixed shows. Stressing old style, there was no Makai Club, Joanie Laurer, PRIDE fighters, or any other of that non-traditional stuff involved. The closest was a UWF-style match, but despite the MMA-style nature of those matches, they are a distinct genre of pro wrestling going back years, long before MMA took off in Japan. Fittingly, Tokyo Korakuen Hall was the setting of this event, which was taped for both WPW and SXW (I got the SXW version). The opener saw Kakihara make relatively short work of Yano, but it wasn't an easy win. Yano grounded Kakihara with some of his suplex-style throws and then used submissions, almost getting the win with a crab hold. Kakihara finished it suddenly with the Kaki Cutter though. Yano once more looked more confident and improved. Nakano vs. Kurashima was old UWF/UWF-I vs. Muga, with Nakano, who wrestled in the semi final match of the first big New Japan vs. UWF-I confrontation against Hashimoto on 10/9/95, facing Kurashima. Kurashima has been wrestling on Muga shows for a long time, but other than that has been stuck on small indies. He tried to get into New Japan, but failed the tough initiation test. Despite that, he is a solid old style wrestler, similar to other Mugaites in how he wrestles. This had aspects of UWF and Muga styles, but leaned more towards the former, because Nakano dominated. After a flurry of strikes, a knee shot KO'd Kurashima. Four L.A. Dojo imports made their New Japan debuts, with the Havana Pitbulls (Rocky Romero & Ricky Reyes) facing the little and large team of Pinoi Boy & Jack The Bull. The Pitbulls were quite impressive, very intense and executing their moves with great precision. They wrestled like Dynamite Kid and Benoit do/did, sporting stern facial expressions and utilizing a no nonsense, hard-hitting wrestling style. Pinoi looked very green and was beneath the quality of New Japan young lions, but was a good underdog and spent much of the match as the whipping boy for Rocky & Ricky. Jack The Bull was, well, just absolutely awful. There is no better way of putting it, he looked really horrible in there, but thankfully wasn't in much. This was almost like an exhibition to show off the new tag team for the post-Tokyo Dome tour, and they made a good first impression. I was expecting a lot from Wataru vs. American Dragon (the other L.A. Dojo import), but was disappointed. Dragon is one of the most highly touted U.S. indy wrestlers in years, but was only on the same ability level as Wataru here, not close to the likes of Liger and Kanemoto. He mostly used strikes, and wasn't as dominant and aggressive as I expected, Wataru getting a lengthy session of offense. They exchanged some really hard chops, before Dragon locked Wataru in a cobra clutch-style crossface hold for the tap. Hopefully better to come from Dragon, he could be a great addition to the roster... The special SXW segment was cool. They went to the workshop of an expert mask craftsman, who makes Tiger Mask's sacred hoods right now. The segment made me respect the work put into masks, as they showed the man making one from scratch. He puts immense effort and pride into each piece of work, adding little details that you don't notice normally, such as intricate patterns. They showed him stood next to the original Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama, who I believe he also made masks for. He also crafted some masks for Liger and Sasuke, plus many more great wrestlers I'm sure. Kenzo vs. Wolf was good, the best match of the show so far. After a slow start, it really picked up and the fans were into it. Kenzo is Wolf's peer by two years, but this was very even and see-saw, and surprisingly, Wolf left more of an impression than Kenzo. Some very nice moves by the two big prospects, with Kenzo getting the win after a big backdrop suplex, then his Shining Wizard-style knee attack. Wolf is going to be great one day... Nagata & Tanaka vs. Nakanishi & Naruse ousted Kenzo vs. Wolf as the best bout of the show so far. 15 minutes of good, hard-hitting wrestling, exactly how you'd expect, with continuous action. The best pairings were Nagata vs. Nakanishi and Tanaka vs. Naruse, due to their matching weight classes and familiarity, but Nagata vs. Naruse was also really good and they exchanged holds on the ground. There was subtle discontent between Nagata and Nakanishi in the match, which I think related to Nakanishi's desperation for a title match. They really pummeled each other. Nakanishi got the win over Tanaka with an Argentine backbreaker, and talked about an IWGP shot backstage. Fujinami vs. Tanahashi was very interesting, because before the G1, Fujinami taught Tanahashi a lot, and it has showed since, with the young lion using many Fujinami signatures. So this was a direct clash of teacher and student, and was very old style. The coolest part of the match was late on, when they traded Fujinami signature moves, like the dragon screw leg whip and Dragon sleeper. Tanahashi teased the deadly Dragon suplex, and almost hit it, but not quite. The fans loved the finish, because it was straight out of the old era, with Tanahashi applying a submission, in this case a cross armbreaker, but Fujinami leaned over and cradled him for the flash count. The main event was a special match for numerous reasons, most notably because it was Takashi Iizuka's return to action after 487 days (6/6/01 to 10/6/02) of absence due to a serious head injury suffered when Mitsuya Nagai KO'd him at Budokan last June. Iizuka was one of my favourites when he started blooming (after many years of doing very little in the midcard, the exception being his briefly successful team with Kazuo Yamazaki) during the New Japan vs. UFO feud as Hashimoto's tag partner. He shot up the card, putting away the likes of Chono, Tenzan, Kojima, Nakanishi, and Nagata away with his vaunted sleeper hold, and almost won the IWGP Heavyweight Title from Kensuke on 7/20/00 in a very good 20+ minute match. I expected his return match with Nishimura to be a very simple, safe technical match, to just help him shed ring rust and work his way back into form. Instead, what I saw was a match that will probably end up as the unheralded gem of 2002 because it happened on a small show. This was an amazingly awesome match for a man who had just missed well over a year, as Iizuka didn't seem to have lost a step, and if anything showed a broader range of techniques on the mat. He and Nishimura had a tremendous near-25 minute mat-based match, where they broke down each other's limbs, and used many submissions. There was something very refreshing and great about this match, two stoic wrestlers in plain black wrestling tights, no kneepads, no nonsense, technical wrestling before a respectful crowd. Many wrestlers could be seen, including Nagata kneeling at ringside and Fujinami standing near the curtain. Iizuka did many great takedowns, and was as good as Mr. Muga on the ground in the match, another incredible feat. The finish showed Iizuka's lack of form, as he tried his sleeper (for the first and final time in the mat), but in a blink of the eye, Nishimura slid under, and cradled him with a ground Cobra Twist for the win. There was a lot of emotion post-match, with wrestlers standing in the ring, behind Nishimura and Iizuka. It was great to see Nishimura stood at the front, with higher ranked wrestlers like Nagata and Nakanishi taking a background position because Nishimura is the carrier of Muga's spirit now. Nishimura said in fluent English, "Ladies and gentleman. Welcome to Korakuen Hall", and did a speech (in Japanese) to a crowd that was in love with him, before letting Iizuka say some words. This may be my favourite New Japan singles match of 2002, ahead of even Chono vs. Takayama and Nagata vs. Nishimura. It was so well crafted and beautifully wrestled, the sort of match that if at the Tokyo Dome, would be talked about for a long time, but because it was at Korakuen, probably won't be remembered by non-diehard fans. At least they showed some of it on WPW, so a national audience got to see Iizuka's return. Great, great, great match. Iizuka is back! I really hope he can return to his past rank in 2003 (if he stays with New Japan; you can never be sure after all the departures of the last two years), and show the world what he is made of again. Two hours of total entertainment, another good show from New Japan. It was just about the most no nonsense wrestling you can find nowadays due to the Muga theme, and that includes NOAH. They should make these Muga mini-tours an annual event, because in the modern wrestling world, where storylines and characters are EVERYWHERE, they are very refreshing to watch.
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