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"ULTIMATE CRUSH" was a revolutionary event, as for the first time, professional wrestling and vale tudo truly clashed on the major stage. Indeed, the card was separated into two sectors, with six pro wrestling matches and five vale tudo matches. The vale tudo fights began with Antonio Inoki's final successor, LYOTO, debuting against Pancrase's KENGO. New Japan's brilliant young rookie hope, Shinsuke Nakamura, risked the pride of professional wrestling against K-1 star, Jan "The Giant" Nortje. Josh Barnett also represented pro wrestling and New Japan for the first time, fighting King of the Cage, Jimmy Ambriz. And in a battle of two of Japan's wildest fighters, New Japan's Manabu Nakanishi entered the vale tudo world for the first time, fighting enemy, Kazuyuki Fujita. The professional wrestling half began with Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi to determine who would challenge the main event winner for the IWGP Heavyweight Title. Six years after his original New Japan debut was cancelled, former UFC Heavyweight Champion, King of Pancrase Champion, and WWF Intercontinental Champion, Ken Shamrock, entered the King of Sports, facing Takashi Iizuka. The intense junior feud from recent tours continued, when Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto defended their IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title against Tiger Mask & Heat. The Makai Club vs. Crazy Dogs feud spilled over to the Tokyo Dome as well, with two vicious, bloodthirsty fighters, Kazunari Murakami and Enson Inoue, locking horns. A double main event saw three of Japan's elite championships on the line. In the first, NOAH's Kenta Kobashi defended his GHC Heavyweight Title against Masahiro Chono in a summit of legends, and one year after their first clash, Yuji Nagata (IWGP Heavyweight Champion) and Yoshihiro Takayama (NWF Heavyweight Champion) met again, with both men, and not just one, risking a title this time in a historic double title match. One of New Japan's most important shows ever, the professional wrestling and vale tudo communities finally met!
Foreign participation:
Dolgorsuren Sumiyabazar
Jan Nortje
Jimmy Ambriz
Josh Barnett
LYOTO
Ken Shamrock (Makai Club)
Special participation:
Enson Inoue (Crazy Dogs)
Kazuyuki Fujita
KENGO (Pancrase)
Kenta Kobashi (NOAH)
Tsuyoshi Kosaka
Yoshihiro Takayama
NJPW "ULTIMATE CRUSH", 5/2/03 (WPW/PPV/NJ+IWTV Internet)
Tokyo Dome
55,000 Fans - Super No Vacancy
1. IWGP Heavyweight Title #1 Contender Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan beat Hiroshi Tanahashi (10:24) with the TTD.
2. Ken Shamrock beat Takashi Iizuka (11:44) with an ankle hold.
3. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto (c) beat Tiger Mask & Heat (19:50) when Kanemoto used a Tiger suplex hold on Heat (2nd defense).
4. Ultimate Crush Rules: LYOTO (Ryoto Machida) beat KENGO  (R3) by decision (3-0).
5. Ultimate Crush Rules: Tsuyoshi Kosaka beat Dolgorsuren Sumiyabazar (R1 2:58) by doctor stop.
6. Ultimate Crush Rules: Shinsuke Nakamura beat Jan Nortje  (R2 3:12) with a guillotine choke.
7. Ultimate Crush Rules: Josh Barnett beat Jimmy Ambriz (R1 3:05) by referee stop.
8. Ultimate Crush Rules: Kazuyuki Fujita beat Manabu Nakanishi (R3 1:09) by referee stop.
9. Enson Inoue beat Kazunari Murakami (6:33) by referee stop.
10. GHC Heavyweight Title: Kenta Kobashi  (c) beat Masahiro Chono (28:27) with a lariat (2nd defense).
11. IWGP Heavyweight Title & NWF Heavyweight Title: Yoshihiro Takayama (c) beat Yuji Nagata (c) (18:17) with a German suplex (4th defense) to become the 32nd IWGP Heavyweight Champion.
Points of note:
The show kicked off with a big match, when Tenzan and Tanahashi met in an IWGP Heavyweight Title #1 Contender Match. Although troubled by Tanahashi's youthful vigor, Tenzan scored the win following a TTD, and earned his sixth shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Title.
Ken Shamrock entered New Japan as a Makai Club member, and even wore a Makai mask during his entrance. He faced "Submission Master" Iizuka in a very technical match. Iizuka fought well, but tapped out to Shamrock's original ankle hold.
After capturing the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title from Kanemoto in March, Tiger Mask looked to take his other title. Tiger & Heat challenged the all-star team of Liger & Kanemoto for their IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title. The four used their splendid ability to put on a thrilling near-20 minute clash. However, the veteran team was just too good, their combined teamwork giving them a V2 victory when Kanemoto pinned Heat. Following the match, Liger & Kanemoto were provoked by NOAH's Naomichi Marufuji & Kotaro Suzuki. And Minoru Suzuki, doing commentary at ringside, also stood and exchanged glares with the man he defeated last November, Liger, hinting at a future rematch between the two.
New Japan uplifted it's ban on vale tudo fights, the first of five being LYOTO vs. KENGO. After much hype, Inoki's Japanese-Brazilian find debuted, and controlled much of his fight against KENGO. Although he wasn't able to put the Pancrase star away before time expired, he won by a unanimous decision. Following the match, Inoki struck LYOTO hard with a couple of patented fighting spirit slaps.
Dolgorsuren Sumiyabazar also made his vale tudo debut, the brother of New Japan's Blue Wolf and sumo star Asashoryu facing respected veteran, Tsuyoshi Kosaka. It would be a disappointing debut for the Mongolian though, as a heavy landing resulted in him injuring his left elbow seriously, and subsequently forcing an early stoppage.
"Super Rookie" Shinsuke Nakamura capitivated the Tokyo Dome in just his second vale tudo fight, the brilliant young wrestler manhandling the much taller Jan Nortje with ease, and bloodying him. Nakamura's technique and elite training were too much for the K-1 fighter, and after controlling "The Giant" for most of the match, Shinsuke put him away in the second round. A new hero was born, the supernova rookie defending pro wrestling's pride with outstanding results!
Josh Barnett, after entering New Japan as an outsider in January, represented the company and pro wrestling against unbeaten King of the Cage star, Jimmy Ambriz. Barnett draped himself in a New Japan towel, and quite easily beat his fellow American, a flurry of mounted punches leading to a referee stoppage. Barnett firmly shook hands with a pleased Inoki following the fight.
In the most anticipated vale tudo fight of the event, two New Japan trueborns and wild men clashed, Manabu Nakanishi and Kazuyuki Fujita. Fujita was seconded by former New Japan junior star, Kendo Kashin, who made his first appearance since leaving the company early in 2002. Nakanishi had controlled all of their previous bouts, but they were pro wrestling matches and he had two handicaps today; a knee injury and far less vale tudo experience than Fujita. However, despite being largely controlled by Fujita, Nakanishi fought with heart. He survived a punch that caused mass bloodshed from his nose, and fought back with great spirit. In the third round though, he was taken down and Fujita showered him with punches for the referee stoppage. PRIDE Heavyweight Champion, Emelianenko Fedor, entered the ring following the match, but a handshake request to his 6/8 opponent, Fujita, was refused.
The Makai Club vs. Crazy Dogs feud saw it's biggest match yet, when bloodthirsty fighters, Murakami and Enson Inoue, met in their first singles match. As expected, the fight was out of control, with Murakami beaten to a bloody pulp and attacked by other Crazy Dogs members. In the end, Enson was victorious, pummeling Murakami with mounted punches until the terrorist stopped responding.
Two of Japan's premier wrestlers, Kenta Kobashi and Masahiro Chono, clashed for the first time in singles competition over Kobashi's GHC Heavyweight Title. Chono fought through serious ligament damage in his left knee, almost pulling it to the ring with him, and wrestling against the advice of a doctor. The two waged a classic wrestling war, lasting close to half an hour and thrilling the Tokyo Dome crowd. It took a big flurry of half-nelson suplexes and a couple of lariats to sink Chono, who died an honourable death against the NOAH ace. Chono accepted defeat, shaking hands with Kobashi, before leaving with the assistance of young wrestlers.
Exactly one year after Nagata successfully defended his IWGP Heavyweight Title at the Tokyo Dome against Takayama, the two met again, now much stronger and premier wrestlers. After breaking Shinya Hashimoto's defense record in April, Nagata made his V11 defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Title, while Takayama defended his NWF Heavyweight Title for the fourth time in this double title clash. This was a very stiff and physical match, which took a lot out of both men. They clobbered each other with strikes, Nagata's kicks particularly nasty. Nagata seemed to have the match under the control when he landed an enzuigiri, but Takayama suddenly hit an "Everest" German suplex, losing his bridge, but covering quickly for the win! Nagata's brilliant record-breaking reign was finally over, Yoshihiro Takayama the NEW IWGP Heavyweight Champion! During the post-match ceremony, Hisashi Shinma appeared. Shinma told Takayama to "seal IWGP" and discard New Japan's top title in favour of the NWF throne. A furious Tenzan appeared, and told Shinma to be quiet, saying he didn't know history. Takayama told Tenzan to get training for their match, and Tenzan said he would save the IWGP belt for New Japan. Takayama closed the night with his patented "NOOOOOOO FEAR!" call.
Miscellaneous:
It was a good night for professional wrestlers against vale tudo fighters. There were two direct pro wrestling vs. vale tudo matches, those being Nakamura vs. Nortje and Barnett vs. Ambriz, and the wrestlers won both. Nakanishi vs. Fujita could be argued as a pro wrestler vs. vale tudo fight, but Fujita's New Japan origins have given him the label of a pro wrestler in the mixed martial arts world.
Back to: "ULTIMATE FESTIVAL" (5/1/03)
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