*Camera pans around the arena, the crowd are on their feet; clapping, cheering and screaming*
Hari Akira : "This is the Nagoya City General Gymnasium Rainbow Hall, these are 10,000 fans and this is New Japan Pro Wrestling."
*Camera zooms in on the announcing table.*
Hari : "I'm Hari Akira and, as usual, sitting next to me is my co-commentator Sakaguchi Tetsuo. Tonight, we begin with some astonishing news. Last Friday in Kanagawa, the tag team championship changed hands. We have a new champion team of Mutoh Keiji and Chono Masahiro. Tetsuo, this is an astonishung turn of events. Not only did the Wolfpac talk their way into a tag match with the champs, but they managed to get a title shot. Mutoh and Chono did not waste any time."
Sakaguchi Tetsuo : "Yes, I am quite shocked by this astounding change. Sasaki was pinned by Mutoh in under ten minutes too. The Wolfpac still do not have a "leader" yet they have all the Heavyweight titles in their possession. I am still stunned by what happened last week. It's all so sudden. Mutoh and Chono looked to be heading down the rocky path to a long feud and then they bury the hatchet. From what I understand, the other members of the nWo have been fired and have a no-compete clause in their nWo contract, so unless the Wolfpac waive the clause, they will not be competing in NJPW. Basically they are fired."
Hari : "Yes, it's an odd situtation. We have a very good card today. The main event is Chono Masahiro, Kojima Satoshi, Tenzan Hiroyoshi and nWo Sting against Tenryu Genichiro, Hashimoto Shinya, Sasaki Kensuke and Nagata Yuji in an eight-man tag team event, which is sure to be interesting."
Sakaguchi : "Indeed it should. After trying to rid New Japan of the nWo, they cannot be happy with this renaissance of the nWo with the formation of the Wolfpac. This should be interesting. Mutoh is preparing for his next title defense against Hashimoto in one week, so he backed out of this match."
Hari : "Also, tonight Jyushin Lyger and Great Sasuke will defend the Junior Tag Team titles against the Junior Heavyweight Champion, Kanemoto Kohji and his partner, Black Tiger."
Sakaguchi : "On Friday, Black Tiger defeated Lyger in a classic encounter and Kanemoto later gained a pin over Sasuke in an eight-man match. With pubfall wins over the champions, Tiger and Kohji cannot be unconfident going into this match tonight."
Hari : "We have lots more besides, so ler's get to the action."
-----
Manabu Nakanishi pinned Michiyoshi Ohara
after a fisherman suplex in 0:10:06.
Rating: 1/2*
Nakanishi gained a great win over Ohara in this rather dull encounter. Nakanisihi stamped hisauthority on the match with some nice kicks and wore down Ohara's leg. Ohara did enjoy a few momentary advantages but it was mainly all Nakanishi. He really went for the leg with a kneelock submission and a half boston. He then switched to the power attack with a powerbomb. Nakanishi went for a suplex and then grabbed the weak leg, hitting a fisherman suplex. Ohara was prone and was counted down for the three.
We managed to grab some words with Manabu in the locker room.
"I am not happy with this Wolfpac thing. I was disgusted
when my former partner Kojima Satoshi joined the nWo Japan and
now he's stayed with Mutoh to go into the Wolfpac. It's my
priority to show Kojima, Tenzan, Mutoh, Chono, Sting and whoever
else they have up their sleeves, that the Wolfpac is not good
enough to defeat NJPW. I will show them all that Nakanishi Manabu
is ready for the next level."
-----
Dr. Wagner Jr. and Kendo Ka Shin and
Shinjiro Ohtani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa battled to a draw in
0:20:00.
Rating: ** 1/4
An unfortunate stalemate topped off this entertaining encounter. Wagner and Ka Shin defeated Takaiwa and Ohtani to win their first Junior Tag Team titles, so both teams knew each other well. After a brief period of feeling out, Ohtani grabbed the initiative over Ka Shin. Ohtani and Takaiwa wore Ka Shin down, only with Ka Shin's desperation armbars managing to break any momentum. Wagner finally tagged in and went to work on Ohtani. Takaiwa saved his team from cerain loss aftyer Wagner executed the Wagner Driver on Ohtani. The match got closer to the twenty minute mark
-----
El Samurai pinned Osamu Kido with the
Inverted Swinging DDT in 0:11:42.
Rating: * 1/4
SHOCK. A bonafide heavyweight Kido was defeated by perennial junior El Samurai. Samurai controlled this match from start to finish. Kido did not have much of a weight advantage and Samurai's speed showed up Kido. El Samurai finished it off with his patented Inverted Swinging DDT. Is this the start of a junior revolution or just a flash in the pan? Only time will tell.
Samurai had this to say after the match
"I am so happy. This is the proof that the junior
heavyweights can step up and fight the heavyweights and win. I am
proud of myself and proud of the win. I showed Kido that we are
not to be taken lightly."
-----
Shiro Koshinaka pinned Tatsutoshi Goto
after a flying hip attack in 0:07:37.
Rating: * 1/4
Koshinaka came back from a beating by Goto to gain an easy win over. Not much to talk about here.
-----
Jyushin Lyger and Great Sasuke defeated
Koji Kanemoto and Black Tiger when Lyger pinned Tiger after a
palm blow in 0:22:29.
Rating: *****
(Jyushin Lyger and Great Sasuke retained the IWGP Junior
Heavyweight Tag Team Titles.)
Lyger and Sasuke successfully defended the titles against Kanemoto and Black Tiger in this superb encounter. It had drama from start to finish and was well deserving of a five star rating. As it got above ****, it get's a place in the Hall of Fame. As a result, the match in it's entirety is here. Enjoy.
-----
nWo Wolfpac Japan (Hiroyoshi Tenzan,
Masahiro Chono, nWo Sting and Satoshi Kojima) defeated Genichiro
Tenryu, Kensuke Sasaki, Yuji Nagata and Shinya Hashimoto when
Chono pinned Sasaki after a lariat in 0:18:35.
Rating: ***
The Wolfpac emerge victorious against tough opposition. Oddly enough, Nagata and Hashimoto will headline a house show in Sendai on Friday and tension was evident when they were teaming. The Wolfpac controlled the match early and targetted Sasaki as the weak link and proceeded to double team and rule bend to wear him down. Finally, Sasaki managed to fight back and tagged Nagata in. That led to the only point in the match where that team were in charge, Hashimto and Tenryu both managed to come in and the match became a quick switching match. Chono signalled for his partners to come in and tthey attacked Tenryu, Hashimoto and Sasaki when Chono and Nagata were both in trouble Sasaki was first back onto the apron and Nagata made the tag. Chono wore Sasaki down more and eventually took out an exhausted Sasaki with a brutal lariat. They celebrated with a picture in their new red and black t-shirts.
We managed to get a few words from nWo Sting afterwards.
Sting : "The Wolfpac is the elite force in professional
wrestling and we decided that it was time for a change. Now when
Sasaki stared at the lights for a second time in five days, it
cemented the fact that you can send all your heroes after us and
it won't matter because we are just too..."
All : "SWEEEEEEETT!"
Sting : "When you hear that howl and you know that the
Wolfpack is..."
All : "IN DA HOUSE!"
Sting : "You better get ready to bow to the masters because
when you are nWo, you are..."
All : "nWo 4 LIFE!"
Sting : "Until we decide otherwise. Dig that those on the
unemployment line?"
*Kojima yells "Wolfpac in da house" and the usual
babyfives ensue."
That's all, see you next week.
Click here to return to the card overview.
Mike Farrow, 04-05-1999
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