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[1993-03-03-WAR] Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa vs Riki Choshu & Osamu Kido


Loss

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'll leave it to someone else to describe that entrance for Tenryu & Ishikawa, but wow. Also, Riki Choshu has the very best entrance music in wrestling history.

 

This isn't a blowaway match like the two February matches in the Tenryu vs New Japan series, but it's still excellent, with the interaction between Tenryu and Choshu still feeling like something special.

 

Kido also looks really good because Tenryu and Ishikawa sell the hell out of his submissions.

 

Tenryu finally puts away Kido with the powerbomb and we get a pretty chaotic post-match brawl which has HASHIMOTO showing up and throwing a table at Tenryu outside the ring and Tenryu even doing MIC WORK. Pretty awesome.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah this was amazing. Tenryu and Ishikawa are both so great as cheap shotting dicks too, no one stomps a guy from behind as nastily as Ishikawa, and Tenryu short punts are as violent as anything in wrestling history. Choshu is Choshu and I loved all the different ways Choshu set up his lariat, my favorite is when he shifted direction and just blasted Tenryu on the apron. This was really Kido's career performance he is so spectacular in the end run of this match throwing out counter arm bar after counter arm bar, you get the sense that he wants the win more then he ever wanted anything. Another match which really compares to anything being done in your more acclaimed puro promotions.

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  • 3 months later...

Watched and wrote about this a few months ago, and my thoughts are more or less identical after another watch.

 

 

Shockingly enough, this was really fucking good. Choshu and Tenryu are just great as your "team leaders" throwing down, but everybody really brings it here. Plenty of moments where one guy will rail off and punch or chop the opponent on the apron, and it culminates with Choshu winding up for a lariat on Ishikawa only to change direction at the last minute and nail Tenryu on the apron. That kicks off your crazy hot stretch run where Kido just explodes in a flurry of Fujiwara armbars and kneebars in an attempt to make someone tap out. He'll put Ishikawa in an armbar and Tenryu will kick him in the head to break it up, so he'll get up and put Tenryu in an armbar instead. Ishikawa will break that up so Kido will put HIM in an armbar. Tenryu stops that so Kido will grab his leg and hook a kneebar. Crowd is going freaking nuts and Osamu Kido is determined to submit a fool. Really awesome performance from him and I'm hoping there's a Kido v Tenryu singles match out there somewhere. Post-match is even better than the 2/14 post-match with the ring filling up and then you get an awesome shot of Hashimoto striding into the think of it like he just lives for this shit. Handheld guy forgets about the camera and it winds up tilting at an angle and this ring full of beef looks like the titanic is sinking. Then Hashimoto chucks a table so Tenryu gets on the mic and calls him out and then throws it at him. And I'm spent.

Strangely enough I actually liked the handheld version a little more than the TV version. I'm not usually a handheld guy, but I thought some stuff, like the Choshu lariat where he changes direction and blasts Tenryu, came off better from the handheld view. Then again, Tenryu's reaction to it is caught better in the TV version, so it evens itself out in the end, I guess. Kido down the stretch is still tremendous.

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  • 1 year later...

This didn't do much for me, great action in the last 5 mins or so but the first 10 was some of the most boring, heatless wrestling i've seen in a while. If I were to rank them all this would be the worst match i've seen from the NJPW vs WAR feud.

 

Kido also looks really good because Tenryu and Ishikawa sell the hell out of his submissions.

Easily the biggest highlight for me, for one split second it looked like Osamu Kido was going to tap out Genichiro Tenryu with a leg bar :)

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  • 4 months later...
  • 5 months later...

Cool entrances. Nice moment with Riki knocking Tenryu off the apron to the outside. A pissed off Tenryu charges into the ring after making a tag and ends up almost getting taken out by an armbar. I didn’t think much of earlier portion of match but last few minutes were good. Does well to continue things on with Tenryu/Choshu.

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  • 3 months later...

That entrance...yeah.

 

So this was slow going for awhile, much like that AJPW 6-man. But the intensity and heat shot up as the match went on--really great focus on Tenryu vs. Kido playing off the 10-man tag, and a great callback with Kido seemingly having Tenryu's number with the wakigatame. Kido gets in a few credible near-falls, but Ishikawa more or less sacrifices himself to keep Choshu occupied as Tenryu comes back to win. Tenryu seamlessly turning the wakigatame into a powerbomb was a great comeback spot to decisively establish Tenryu as the Man. Fantastic post-match--Tenryu takes more shots at Choshu, the WAR and NJPW young boys get into it, and the big inevitable Tenryu/Hashimoto showdown is teased again. A lesser addition to a tremendous feud, but still some quality stuff here.

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  • 1 year later...

If Tenryu doesn't have the all time greatest facials, he's right there with Kawada & Kobashi. Love the early struggle with him and Choshu. I also like how the lariat is Choshu's finisher, but he can bust it out at any time. Everything here is so impactful and heated. You're not getting a 20+ minute AJPW epic, but you also know this could end at just about any time so you're basically on the edge of your seat from the word go. Tenryu tossing the ref aside to continue kicking Choshu & then tagging Ishikawa to let him pummel Choshu is great. Kido on a hot tag is unexpected but also great and when he catches Tenryu in an armbar the place comes unglued, and again the second time. These are submissions you absolutely buy as potential finishers because of how these matches play out, even if Tenryu is unlikely to tap to Kido. Choshu saves Kido after one powerbomb, but putting Ishikawa in the scorpion allows Tenryu to deliver another for the win. The fun isn't over yet as we get a solid brawl post-match with the seconds from both promotions involved that sees Tenryu & Choshu held back from going after each other while Hashimoto/Tenryu is still pushed as the big clash of the titans. Not the best match in this feud, but a great one in its own right and yet another example of why this *feud* trumps any other in wrestling.

 

***3/4

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  • 1 month later...

Agree that this is on the low-end of WAR vs. NJ stuff but that is still pretty damn great overall. Ishikawa and Kido felt really lesser here, moreso than anyone else in that role in these multi-man matches to me. The match lived and died between Choshu and Tenryu's interactions and they delivered in spades at times when it counted. I also am completely jacked for the incoming Hashimoto vs. Tenryu match. This feud rocks overall. ***3/4

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  • 1 year later...

This was very, very good. Kido brought his shoot-style submissions, which added a different dynamic, especially in a wild finish like the one we got. Unfortunately, he's the one who was pinned by Tenryu while Choshu has the scorpion on someone whom he knew wasn't the legal man in the ring. There had to be a better way to keep Choshu occupied that didn't make him look like he'd parked his brains rught where they would do him no good.

 

Kido and Ishikawa more than held their own, and Ishikawa's really becoming someone to conjure with on the WAR side of things. He's an excellent partner for Tenryu at this stage of their careers.

 

Having Choshu as the one taking the punishment for New Japan was an out-of-the-box choice, but he was very good at it. He also delivered enough to keep the match competitive at the same time.

 

The postmatch brawl was pure chaos, complete with Hash throwing the table at Tenryu. I also liked Tenryu and Ishikawa standing clear of the chaos they helped to create until they were actually bumped into. They've been on the winning team consistently so far in this feud; why stoop to postmatch violence like those curs from NJPW?

 

It looks like it may take a surprise appearance from Inoki to turn the tide for New Japan, as Tenryu and WAR have had their way so far. The matches have been consistently high-quality, but NJPW needs some wins soon to keep the fans' attention and interest.

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  • GSR changed the title to [1993-03-03-WAR] Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa vs Riki Choshu & Osamu Kido

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