[1992-12-14-NJPW-Final Battle] Genichiro Tenryu vs Shiro Koshinaka

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Any reason not to expect this to be fun? Both guys are surrounded by their stablemates and Koshinaka rushes Tenryu at the opening bell, taking the fight to him. He dominates most of this and Tenryu does a great job selling for him. Eventually, Tenryu gets the upper hand and Kosh bleeds a ton (bloody show, this one) while coming back. Considering their respective places on the card at the time, it's impressive how much the crowd buys teases of Koshinaka going over. I love the ref getting heat after an especially close call at one point, but there are quite a few great moments like that. One of those great Tenryu matches that gets over all the big picture stuff beautifully and has some awesome visuals. Tenryu never stops wrestling like he's in a dome. I could have been happy seeing these two get the chance to work a full series against each other, because they got off to a great start.

[Tim Evans]

I liked the fight in the beginning between the New Japan guys and the War guys. Someone got hit with a cane right in the back. As for the match, it was good but I was expecting better. Kinda dragged in the middle.

[shoe]

I liked this. Tenyru gave Koshinaka a lot. Koshinaka did some nice work on the arm. The false finishes were could and the crowd bought them. Tenryu beat the shit out of Koshinaka when he had the opportunity. Overall good stuff.

[FLIK]

One of my favorite matches from the 92-94 WAR/NJPW feud that i've been able to dig up as after Hashimoto I think Koshinaka was Tenryu's best opponent during the series.

 

Not sure how to articulate it but watching these matches has finally got me to turn the corner and become a Tenryu fan. I've been watching him for over a decade, seen him in lots of good to great matches but if asked if Tenryu was one of my favorite wrestlers i'd have still said no up until now. Dunno, maybe it's because in a battle of NJPW vs WAR I have no dog in the fight and couldn't care less which side wins so I can enjoy him more in this setting.

[Zenjo]

They'd established a strong rivalry in the tag bouts and here was the blowoff to the feud. Kosh bled a bit but the blood stains were still there to remind us of the last fight. It kept looking as if it was going to explode but then Tenryu would slow it down. Peaked near the finish when it really looked like the upset was on. Given that Kosh wasn't a top liner it's a big compliment to both wrestlers that the fans believed. Overall very good but they could've done even better.

[PeteF3]

I was chalking this up as a disappointment due to a slow start where Koshinaka sat in a Fujiwara armbar doing his best Doc/Gordy impersonation, not accomplishing much. But eventually Tenryu busts him open with kicks and this gets really good really fast. That "did he or didn't he?" reversal pin attempt by Koshinaka that Loss brings up was great, like an actual controversial call you'd see in a real sporting event rather than the typical blind pro wrestling officiating. This feud continues to be a blast.

[WingedEagle]

Kosh attacks during the intros to gain an early advantage, consistent with the heat in this feud. Even Tenryu's missed chops feel big here. Kosh works over Tenryu's arm and then sends him over the top. They did a fantastic job establishing that Koshinaka could pull off the upset early on, and the heat never dissipated. I enjoyed the focus on Tenryu's arm as it was both punishing and portrayed as a real means to a win for Kosh. Judging from the stains on the mat I'm guessing this followed Muta/Hase. Tenryu takes over with an eyerake to break the submission and then goes to wok with kicks and foot scrapes, which Kosh sells really well and is taken up a notch when his forehead is busted open, which he sells the rest of the way when mounting his comebacks. After a Kosh German, Tenryu fires back with lariats, an enzuigiri and power bomb that sees Kosh get a foot on the rope to break the pin. Enzuigiri and power bomb but Kosh has foot on rope. Kosh has one last superman effort rolling through a splash for a huge near fall, but Tenryu kicks out and blocks a dragon suplex before hitting another enzuigiri, lariat and power bomb to win.

 

Tenryu is just such a phenomenal heel in this feud. I liked him when watching AJ in the 80s, but he's at a completely different level in WAR vs. NJ. At this point it feels like the hottest feud in the world even though it just got rolling late in the year, and I don't know how anything can touch it in '93.

 

****

[ohtani's jacket]

Okay, now this was good.. Very simple and direct, but they sold well and it built to a tremendous finishing stretch with a great nearfall that everyone bit on. Koshinaka gets shat on a lot, but he was excellent here both on top and underneath. His blade job turned things up a notch by creating the illusion that it was hard way, and his selling was beautiful. Tenryu was also fantastic in this. Lariats, elbows, chops and powerbomb attempts, but it was extremely focused and he kept his opponent in his sights the entire time. When he wrestles like this, I can believe the things people say about him. Mowing people down from behind, sticking the boot in. But what about that finishing stretch? I bit on that nearfall along with the rest of the crowd. I love it when 20 year old wrestling can do that. The sequence after the false finish was extremely well done and the finish came on the right beat. Great match. Easy four stars.

[Phil Schneider]

I have talked about it before, but Tenryu's ability to have competitive matches with non-stars may be one of the most impressive things about him. Even when guys like Flair would do it, it was still all about the greatness of Flair's performance. Here Tenryu is really making Shiro Koshinaka a star, he isn't "guy carried by Flair" he is "guy who is hanging and banging with Tenryu". Brutal match, when Tenryu lays in a beating, he lays in a beating. Still Koshinaka looks less like an overwhelmed guy out of his league, then Rocky Balboa battling back and taking it to Apollo Creed. When Koshinaka hits that jaw jacking dropkick the places comes unglued. Great, great match and another piece of evidence for the Tenryu as GOAT case.

[garretta]

A lor of the stuff I was going to talk about has already been brought up, but one thing that hasn't is Tenryu's ring positioning. He knows where he is every second, even while Kosh is destroying his arm early in the match or putting him down for nearfall after nearfall. He's always close enough to the ropes to force a break, and it adds to the match because the crowd is shown that this isn't going to be easy for Kosh; he's in there with a true veteran who knows what he's doing in there every minute. That's one reason why Kosh's nearfalls got such big pops.

 

I thought Kosh's armwork was excellent, and the cut on his head literally came out of nowhere, but it affected the match. Tenryu knew exactly how to work on it. The fans could leave the arena thinking that if only Kosh hadn't been weakened by the vut, he might have prevailed after all.

 

From the action we saw outside the ring it seemed like the NJPW/WAR feud got really hot really quickly. I haven't seen the November six-man yet, but now I'm really looking forward to it!