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NJPW, 12/10/02 (WPW) (Buy)
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium 6,000 Fans - No Vacancy
1. Toru Yano beat Naofumi Yamamoto (4:55) with a Canadian backbreaker.
And so it came down to this, the last show of New Japan's touring year for 2002, the conclusion to "TRIATHLON SURVIVOR 2002". New Japan's Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium conventions are traditionally hot, and often spectacular events. Take just recently for example. Who can forget 12/11/01, the night that Tenzan & Kojima completed their epic comeback, beating Barton & Steele to win the G1 Tag League? 6/5/02, with the EPIC Chono & Tenzan vs. Gotch-ism 60 minute draw. The G1 Climax 2002 opening double header, with some awesome matches, like Takayama vs. Tenzan and Nishimura vs. Chono. On paper, this event looked interesting, but maybe not up to the recent standard. But execution can be far different to "on paper", as would be proven... Because of the show length, the first four matches were clipped, some more than others. We got a couple of minutes of Yano vs. Yamamoto, who seemed to have another hard fought young lions match. Also a couple of minutes for Hiro & Goto vs. Koshinaka & Iizuka, which saw Goto score a big win on the soon-to-depart Koshinaka. The one I was most saddened about being clipped was the junior six man tag. From the 4 minutes shown, this was awesome, the most high-flying New Japan junior match I've seen for ages, despite having two total non-flyers (Kakihara and Naruse). It was Team Kanemoto that brought that high risk though, flying all over the place. In particular, Crazy clearing the rail with his Crazy Special (springboard moonsault), which the camera didn't catch fully, but we saw the impact. Stampede followed up, clearing about five rows with a springboard tope con hilo! This was a breathtaking dive, and the crowd was suitably impressed. Kanemoto stuck to his regular in-ring top rope moves, like the moonsault press. Kid again looked really good, and if Liger keeps bringing him back, he will be on to something special I think. Kid fell to a Tiger suplex hold from Tiger Mask in the end, completing his first tour with New Japan. One beautifully executed move after another in the portion shown, I wish they had aired the entire thing. Sammy vs. Curry Man was the final match with clipping, but we got 5 1/2 minutes of this, so well over half. Like the match before it, this was vintage junior heavyweight action, with cool moves and a really fast paced. Samurai isn't young anymore, and some of his matches tend to be slower than they were, but he was up to the task here, and moved fast around the ring. Some great exchanges between the two, Samurai winning it during one of those cradle exchanges. Fujinami & Nishimura reunited for the first time since the summer series, facing Makai #1 & Makai #2 in the first of three New Japan vs. Makai Club matches. This was a short one, with Dragon looking fired up and ready to go, defending Shinnichi. His former regular army ally, Kantaro Hoshino, took a cheap shot at him during the match. The patented New Japan double submission took place, and it worked today, with Fujinami's Dragon sleeper on Makai #2 getting a tap out. Liger & Heat vs. TAKA & Fujita was the third standout junior match of the night, and probably the best one. Takehiro Murahama showed up, fighting off a Kaientai Dojo trainee (black hair, ponytail) who attacked the New Japan team. This was the TAKA & Fujita I like to see, rudo punks who are great wrestlers. They showed Jado & Gedo how to do the perfect beatdown in this one, controlling Heat for a while with some beautiful double teaming, including old Kaientai DX moves. Although they weren't as finesse and speedy here as they were in the past, they performed tremendously. Liger vs. TAKA worked very, very well together, with some spectacular sequences taking place between them. I would pay big bucks for a singles match. The only disappointing thing about the match was that it ended in a DQ when Fujita completely tore off Heat's mask, revealing Minoru Tanaka's face. But this was great, I want more of TAKA in New Japan, and am glad Fujita is a regular in the junior division now. These two could be great IWGP Jr. Tag Team Champions too, if they ever got the chance to win the belts. Kenzo & Wolf vs. Barton & Steele was a big change of pace, a slow traditional tag match. Although I prefer Barton & Steele matches to be kept pretty short, their long bouts in New Japan so far have been a lot better than their All Japan matches. This was quite one-sided much of the way, with Barton & Steele in control. Wolf gave them both effortless suplexes in succession, just amazing raw power. The Americans weren't able to finish off the young lions though, and Kenzo & Wolf did what virtually every All Japan young wrestler couldn't, avoid defeat from Barton "Bom-Ba-Ye" & Steele. Nakanishi & Yoshie vs. Norton & Makabe was pure no nonsense power fighting. Straight up, hard hitting action. Norton was on form again in this one, even more than in Hiroshima, and impressed me with his sudden inspiration to fight hard. Nakanishi vs. Norton was an intense pairing, especially their test of strength stuff, which was really cool. Norton even busted out a DDT on Nakanishi! Makabe, though, continues to make no real impact. He has the fire, but some things are missing, such as the force behind his attacks. He could use some more moves as well, as he repeats quickly. I think he will get there eventually, but right now shouldn't complain about his lack of success. I like it when Nakanishi & Yoshie reunite their old team, because they are both better than ever right now, and are one of the most credible-looking tandems in wrestling. Nakanishi just pummeled Makabe at the end, showing him no mercy, and pinned him with a perfect German suplex hold. All what was left now was the IWGP2 to be defended, New Japan vs. Makai Club style! Firstly, Chono & Tenzan's V4 defense of the IWGP Tag Team Title against Yasuda & Yanagisawa. Interesting to note that Chono switched back entrance themes from "Hard Crush" to "Crash" here. Not sure if this is permanent, as I haven't watched any shows after this yet, but "Crash" has more effect in the building. Osaka was on fire virtually from start to finish for this one. As I have said countless times, New Japan vs. Makai creates an emotional attachment lost before recently, and this (and the next match) was one of the most fitting examples. Things went back and forth for a while, until Yasuda hit Tenzan low (you can guess the crowd response), and isolated him. Then came the beatdown, and the results were incredible. The fans were just so pro-Tenzan, and his comeback was unbelievable. Think of this match as Tenzan & Kojima vs. Kawada & Nagai without the same quality of action, but with even more intensity. Tenzan survived literally every one of Yasuda's finishers, including the front sleeper, regular sleeper hold, shoulder hold, and two Tiger Drivers. Makai got desperate. Finally, after holding out for so long, Tenzan made the tag, and Chono went on a rampage. Back and forth action from this point on, until Yanagisawa bombed Yasuda by mistake with a jumping knee kick. Tenzan looked to the crowd, and they KNEW IT. Tenzan picked Yasuda up, and spiked him with the TTD, pinning the Makai Club leader to one of the biggest responses in Osaka wrestling history. Wow. Now I see why three people nominated this as their Tag Team Best Bout in my site awards. To put it bluntly, this had no good wrestling in the traditional sense. But it was a FIGHT AND A HALF, a desperate struggle in every sense of the word. Yasuda & Yanagisawa were dastardly, bending the rules, soaking in the hate, and doing everything they could to win. Tenzan fought and fought and fought though, in another of his great performances that will be remembered like in those acclaimed TenKoji matches from 2001. And in the most satisfying conclusion possible, he pinned Yasuda, the leader of this diabolical invading force, all of his fighting spirit and determination resulting in a big win. SUPER MATCH. Nagata vs. Murakami for the IWGP Heavyweight Title had a lot to follow up on, but one thing I knew it wouldn't lack from the start was more crowd heat. Osaka couldn't be stopped now, it was a disco inferno, a raging fire that couldn't be put out. Murakami entered first, sporting his typical hateful expression, and ignoring everyone. Nagata entered second to a big response, and saluted to his fans. Murakami attacked right away, and the tone of the match was set then, and never changed. AN ULTIMATE FIGHT. Without going into too many details, since I don't do that, I'll try to recap the highlights. The level of hatred was unbelievable, they just killed each other. There was one particularly disturbing stretch that defined the brutality of this match perfectly. Nagata had been cut open by the terrorist's attacks, and was bleeding badly from the forehead. Hoshino punched the wound directly on the outside, and the response was amazing. There was this outcry of absolute disgust at what he did, and I was sure someone would jump the rail. In the ring, Murakami tormented Nagata with his own Nagata Lock II, and blood dripped down on to Murakami's arm. After breaking the hold, Murakami stood with a demented look on his face, LICKED the blood off his arm, and recklessly threw himself knees-first into Nagata's face. Nagata came back by countering a charge with a high kick, and throwing the fastest koppou kick ever done by something not named Liger. Then came his onslaught. Nagata showed a cold vicious streak, and the "smiling ace" was gone, replaced by a more ideal ace, a killer fighter, no saluting, just this wild man coated in blood, going nuts and defending his promotion. He threw heavy knees to the face, tried to break Murakami's arm with a sitover armbar and Inoki-style armbreakers (which got insane cheers). Murakami just had no answer. Nagata hit a flurry of Exploders, the final two wrist-clutch variations, the final one dropping Murakami on his head. Nagata just sat over Murakami, pulled a leg up, and stared ahead, and that was it. WOW. Just... WOW. I think I've covered everything, this was a spectacle. Again, not a Strong Style match, not much technique beyond some submissions, just a fight between two men/sides who hate each other. Murakami has unmatched intensity, but Nagata is the most versatile wrestler around other than Liger, and can adapt to any situation. Every one of his defenses has been different, even though several of them have been against vale tudo fighters. This was nothing at all like Nagata vs. Bas or Nagata vs. Takayama. Totally different. I have questioned whether Nagata is the ideal ace, but if he showed this intensity all the time, even if it meant "turning to the dark side", I don't know if anyone could question him. I have never seen him like this before. What a match, one of the greatest pure brawls ever. A slight rut for New Japan came to an end with another awesome December show in Osaka. Every match had something of interest, and quite a few of them were really, really good. Lots of intensity in some of the main matches (Liger & Heat vs. TAKA & Fujita, Nakanishi & Yoshie vs. Norton & Makabe, and the title matches), a sense of feeling and meaning like in the old days. This show drew a bigger crowd to Osaka than the great Tenryu vs. Kojima match in July did for All Japan, and dare I say it, the crowd was even more rabid for the main event. New Japan triumphed over Makai with complete 3-0 victory on the night, forcing the Club to go back to the drawing board, and bulk up the ranks in time for the January Tokyo Dome show. Before that event though, two more were left to wrap up 2002.
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(9:51) with a cradle cutback.
& Minoru Fujita 