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Akira Hari : "Welcome to the Chiba Public Park Gymnasium, welcome to N-J-P-W-T-V. I'm Hari Akira and siting next to me is my co-commentator Sakaguchi Tetsuo. Tonight, we have a great card for you. Tetsuo, let's talk about the matches tonight. We have the IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions, Great Sasuke and Jyushin Lyger laying the titles on the line against former champs Ohtani Shinjiro and Takaiwa Tatsuhito."
Tetsuo Sakaguchi : "This is a very tough match for Lyger and Sasuke. Ohtani and Takaiwa are a more experienced team than Lyger and Sasuke."
Akira : "We also have a non-title match between IWGP Tag Team Champions Sasaki Kensuke and Koshinaka Shiro and the team of Tenryu Genichiro and Yamazaki Kazuo."
Tetsuo : "I think it's pretty much a lock for Sasaki and Koshinaka. Tenryu and Yamazaki are replacements for the team of Tenzan Hiroyoshi and nWo Sting, who were ordered not to take this match by Chono Masahiro. Unusual decision, but Chono claims the timing is not right."
Akira : "I have not seen anybody in the nWo in or around the arena except Muto, Chono, Tenzan and Kojima. We'll try and find out why during the programme. Getting back to the action, Kanemoto Kohji will have to defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title against Kendo Ka Shin."
Tetsuo : "Surprising choice of contender. Young Kendo is not the top contender, so I can only assume that they have given him a shot as El Samurai demanded a match against the returning Black Tiger."
Akira : "Finally, the big one. Muto against Chono with the IWGP Heavyweight Title on the line."
Tetsuo : "Odd match. Both are promising that after this match there will only be one nWo. As you said, nobody has seen anybody but Muto, Kojima, Chono and Tenzan."
Akira : "Hold on, we have someone coming out......Tiger Hattori!!
*Tiger only walks out down the ramp way slightly*
Tiger : "At the request of both participants in the main event, nWo Sting has been asked to be referee for the match. Also at their request, all other members of the nWo except Kojima Satoshi and Tenzan Hiroyoshi have been barred from the whole arena. Thank you."
Akira : "Wow. Massive news. Confirmation there that the pro-Chono nWo Sting has been allocated as the special referee for the main event and that the nWo is not here, only Tenzan and Kojima."
Tetsuo : "I'm stunned....."
Akira : "Thanks Tetsuo. Let's go to the action."
-----
Dr. Wagner Jr. pinned Takashi Iizuka
with the Wagner Driver in 0:18:36.
Rating: *** 1/2
Dr. Wagner and Takashi Iizuka contested a tight junior heavyweight encounter. Iizuka enjoyed control of most of the match but Wagner would not stay down. Wagner continually came back until he managed to gain control of the match at around the sixteen minute mark. He tried every big move he knew except one, the Wagner Driver, that gained a pinfall after it's first attempt at the 18:36 mark.
We managed to get a backstage interview from Wagner,
[translated from Spanish]
"I am ready for Kohji, yet I cannot get a title shot at him.
Iizuka discovered that the Wagner driver is the best move in
wrestling. Kanemoto, any time I am ready. I want the Junior
Heavyweight title."
Akira : "Dr. Wagner not beating around the bush. He wants the champion."
Tetsuo : "He has every right. He has a good win-loss record so he should at least try to pressure the Championship Committee or Kanemoto into giving him a shot.
-----
Jyushin Lyger and Great Sasuke defeated
Shinjiro Ohtani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa when Sasuke pinned Ohtani
with the Thunder Fire Power Bomb in 0:12:01.
Rating: ** 1/2
(Jyushin Lyger and Great Sasuke retained the IWGP Junior
Heavyweight Tag Team Titles.)
Lyger and Sasuke retained in a disappointing encounter. Unusually for Takaiwa and Ohtani, they didn't seem to be teaming very well. Lyger and Sasuke took advantage of this and isolated Ohtani, who looked slightly under the weather. Takaiwa did not look his usual self either. So when Lyger pushed Takaiwa off the apron and hit him with a plancha, it gave Sasuke enough time to hit two Thunder Fire Power Bombs, the second gaining a pinfall.
We managed to get some backstage comments with Ohtani and
Takaiwa.
Ohtani : "I have the flu, Tatsuhito has a chest infection.
We should not be wrestling but we are so tough we came out and
wrestled anyway. We will be back and next time we will be
ready." *sneeze*
*Takaiwa lets out a cough that sounds like he is a 90-year-old chain smoker*
Takaiwa : "You got lucky. We are ill, we couldn't wrestle but we were ordered to. I will make sure that next time Shinjiro and I will walk out with our belts."
-----
El Samurai pinned Black Tiger with the
Inverted Swinging DDT in 0:11:14.
Rating: ** 1/4
An instantly forgettable between two men with a lot of history. With the Black Tiger back on a more permanent basis, we can expect these two to see more of each other in future. Samurai capped off a half-assed performance by hitting the Inverted Swinging DDT for the win.
-----
Yuji Nagata and Michiyoshi Ohara
defeated Junji Hirata and Manabu Nakanishi when Ohara pinned
Hirata with the Nodowa in 0:14:42.
Rating: * 1/2
Dull, non-descript. Neither team dominated, but rather plodded through an incredibly dull encounter. Ohara had mercy on us all when he hit the Nodowa.
-----
Koji Kanemoto pinned Kendo Ka Shin with
the Tiger Suplex in 0:12:38.
Rating: ***
(Koji Kanemoto retained the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title.)
Kendo Ka Shin was shown up by Kanemoto, who neatly controlled the match and took the win with a tiger suplex. All credit to Kendo, he really tried, but Kohji was too experienced for Ka Shin.
Backstage, Kanemoto had these comments for Dr. Wagner.
"I heard Wagner's call for a match. OK, I'll give you a
match in two weeks time as I have a Junior Tag Team title shot
next week. I am Kanemoto Kohji and I will beat you like the
stupid masked fool that you are."
-----
Non-Title-Match:
Kensuke Sasaki and Shiro Koshinaka defeated Kazuo Yamazaki and
Genichiro Tenryu when Sasaki made Yamazaki submit to a
sleeperhold in 0:15:13.
Rating: ** 3/4
Sasaki and Koshinaka showed why they are the tag champions by slowly taking Yamazaki and Tenryu apart. Sasaki and Koshinaka showed some real fluidity in their teaming. Tenryu and Yamazaki did not really get into their stride and Sasaki finally managed to get a submission with a sleeper on Yamazaki.
-----
Akira Hari : "Next up, Don Frye and Saito Akitoshi. Saito has not been very successful against Frye as we will see here"
*video montage for the viewers at home of Saito basically staring at lights in the previous encounters with Frye*
Don Frye made Akitoshi Saito submit to
the Cross Armbar Submission in 0:11:52.
Rating: * 1/2
This time was no different. Don Frye gave Saito a real whipping again. Submission holds galore from Frye but Saito could not muster any steam. Saito enjoyed a mini-revival at around the eight minute mark but it was not enough. Frye toyed with him for the rest of the match before gaining the submission with the cross armbar.
-----
*The screen switches to a double feature and the video screen at one end shows nWo Sting*
Akira Hari : "We have just been informed that the special referee for tonight will be nWo Sting. Sting, how will you be able to call this match down the middle?"
nWo Sting : "Simple Akira. I've been in the US for the past couple of days and I have officially severed ties with nWo Japan. I am no longer a member of either faction in it's current form. I didn't join the nWo to be part of a divided group, so I am not currently a member of the nWo Japan. I'm not a member so I have no allegiance to either Keiji or Masahiro."
Akira Hari : "Thank you, well as you are no longer a member of the nWo, I suppose just 'Sting'. Tetsuo, this match gets more peculiar by the minute. Both Muto and Chono have ordered that the only members of the nWo to be involved are Sting, who claims no longer to be a member, Tenzan Hiroyoshi and Kojima Satoshi. What do you make of this situation? "
Tetsuo Sakaguchi : "I don't know what to say. Muto and Chono only want their closest confidantes to be at ringside and a man who is no longer a member as referee. I don't know. I think that maybe they have decided that they should finish this thing here and now, with the winner's nWo being the one that exists."
Akira : "With that, let's go to ringside"
*Sting, carrying a bag, comes out to a mixed reception. He removes his plain black t-shirt and opens the bag, pulling out a referee's shirt, which he puts on. He places the bag on the timekeeper's table.*
*Chono is out next, again to a mixed reaction. Chono is accompanied by Tenzan, who looks very hyped for this one and he won't even be competing.*
*Now Muto. He walks down to the ring with Kojima by his side.*
*Introductions are made*
The match was short. Keiji and Masahiro danced around and locked up a few times but then Kojima and Tenzan both came in the ring. Kojima walked up to Chono and Tenzan walked up to Muto and both woud up for a big punch but pulled the punch and light tapped them both on the cheek. Chono and Muto both laughed and nWo Sting called for a double disqualification.
Match with Special Referee nWo Sting:
Keiji Muto and Masahiro Chono battled to a double
disqualification in 0:00:43.
Rating: **
(Keiji Muto retained the IWGP Heavyweight Title.)
All five laughed as nWo Sting darted outside the ring and picked up his bag from the timekeeper's table. He came back into the ring and poured out the contents; five t-shirts. He handed a t-shirt to the other four and they unravelled them to show RED AND BLACK SHIRTS!!!! nWo Sting grabbed a microphone.
nWo Sting : "I went to the US to gain the official word. We were divided but we decided to do what was right and that is to abandon the black and white and go to the black and red, simply...the Wolfpack."
Keiji Muto : "See, Masahiro and I talked on the phone and we decided that we should bury this hatchet and reform the nWo. We couldn't decide who would lead, so we found a new leader. He has asked us to delay his introduction, but when he arrives, we will be stronger than ever.
Masahiro Chono : "We have both realised that divided we are weak. This is the rebirth of the nWo under a new banner. The weak have been taken out and from here on we will get stronger. The black and red is here in Japan. The Wolfpack is in da house"
***HOWWWWWLLLLL***
*Muto, Tenzan, Kojima, Tenzan and Sting leave in their new red and black nWo shirts.*
See you next week.
Click here to return to the card overview.
Mike Farrow, 02-05-1999