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[1993-03-23-NJPW-Hyper Battle] Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa vs Riki Choshu & Tatsumi Fujinami


Loss

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  • 1 month later...

Yep, he does. That was a nice surprise having Ishikawa get the pinfall there. As much as I am LOVING everything Tenryu on this set, I'm beginning to really get into Ishikawa now too.

I've really found these matches to be the most exciting on the entire set thus far (and I love me some Hollywood Blondes/Heavenly Bodies, so that takes in a lot of things that are 'my thing').

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  • 2 years later...
  • 4 months later...

I thought this was the least of the heavyweight interpromotional matches, but still fun. Loved Team NJPW suckering Tenryu in at the start, resulting in Fujinami blindsiding him and leveling him with a big flurry of his trademark offense. After that I thought Fujinami dragged this down a lot when he was in, but the teases for the dragon suplex were good and the heat of course was tremendous. Holy shit, Ishikawa pins Fujinami! They teased us with that once with Choshu having to make the save, then doubled back and tricked us again by paying off the tease in the same match. I don't know if that explains it well, but it was really cleverly done.

 

There's probably a lot more that can be written about how the promotions in Japan have treated interpromotional matches and stars as compared to the U.S. Stan Hansen jumped ship in the middle of a full-blown promotional war, and he was treated like the bombshell that he was instead of having to take weeks to "learn the All-Japan style" and know his place in the locker room. It's even more striking with this feud--WAR is a minor league outfit all the way, yet they've been allowed to show more in these few months than WCW did during the entire Invasion.

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  • 1 year later...

Great staredown between Tenryu and Fujinami, with Fujinami then laying out Tenryu while he's talking to Choshu. Dropkick and plancha and the building comes unglued. Fujinami & Choshu control early as they work holds at a slower clip than typical for this feud. Even at that slow pace, Choshu & Fujinami are just so great at projecting hate and how important this is. Tenryu always seems able to pull out a desperation enzuigiri to stem NJ's efforts. Tenryu wrenching a half crab on Fujinami and then Ishikawa putting him in dragon sleeper to good heat. You have to love Choshu in tags, working the apron and then coming in with great fury. Here he nails Ishikawa with a a running elbow and 2 backdrop suplexes that set up a lariat for a near fall that Tenryu has to save. Ishikawa eventually pins Fujinami with a running lariat. Too short to be great, but the heat and character work in this feud are top notch, and Ishikawa taking the win is a nice wrinkle.

 

***3/4

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  • 2 months later...

I seem to be higher on this as I thought it was great and for once Fujinami in the 90's conjured up some of the charisma and skill that made him elite in the 1980's. Ishikawa is also my surprise of the yearbook so far and is rising up the ranks like Yatsu did with me tracking the All Japan 80's stuff. Him getting the pin here felt like a big moment. Choshu vs. Tenryu have interacted a lot by this point and it still feels crackling and amazing when they interact. This was just a blast overall that continued my favorite feud of 1993. ****

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  • 1 year later...

I was a bit surprised that Choshu and Fujinami worked so well as a unit, considering their past. You see former enemies teaming in feuds like this all the time, but there's usually at least a small hint of tension between the former feuders.

 

Ishikawa needed to be put over as a strong member of the WAR side, so he needed to get the win here. It might have been a bit bigger if he'd pinned Choshu, but I understand why NJPW wasn't prepared to go quite that far.

 

This could have been a little wilder, but it was nice to see a regular match between the two sides. I'm sure there will be plenty of out-of-control stuff to come later. Besides, the ending was about as crazy as it gets.

 

I loved Ishikawa busting out both Choshu's scorpion and Fujinami's dragon sleeper on the men who made them famous. Nothing like a little move-stealing to up the hatred just a bit more.

 

Choshu sure showed his frustration at the end, as well he should have; Tenryu and company have gotten the best of NJPW at almost every turn so far. NJPW needs to pull its socks up and turn the tide in a hurry! (Note: I have yet to get to the February ten-man tag.)

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  • GSR changed the title to [1993-03-23-NJPW-Hyper Battle] Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa vs Riki Choshu & Tatsumi Fujinami

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