STRONG STYLE MEDLEY #1
GOING FOR THE GOLD
Welcome to the first (and maybe only, you never know) Strong Style Medley, a review compilation of matches from New Japan Pro Wrestling. I did something similar a couple years ago for All Japan Pro Wrestling, which I called “All Japan Anthology.” This is going to be different though, namely because All Japan was booked by a genius like Shohei Baba. I’ve accused New Japan’s management and bookers of being many things, but geniuses aren’t among them. So while the All Japan stuff consisted of these interlocking matches, with each one being the next logical step to the big climax. The New Japan stuff will be more of a set of matches with a running theme to them. The inaugural Strong Style Medley will focus on title matches, or more specifically title decision matches. Beginning in February 1984 to fill the vacant WWF Jr. Heavyweight Title, and the skipping ahead to December 1985 and crowning the first IWGP Tag Team Champions.
In the early 1980's the WWF Jr. Heavyweight Title didn’t see much action in the WWF. It was the main junior heavyweight title in New Japan. Tiger Mask had a virtual stranglehold on the title, with three reigns stretching from New Years Day 1982 until August 12, 1983, with only about two and a half months total without the title. Tiger Mask’s third reign ended by him vacating the title after he “retired” (he actually left New Japan to join the first UWF promotion). Beginning January 1, 1984 a nine-man league was held to fill the vacant title, amongst the participants was Bret Hart, Dynamite Kid, Davey Boy Smith, Black Tiger, Nobuhiko Takada, The Cobra, and others. The final night on February 7 saw three men tied for first place, so a sudden death round robin final was ordered to decide the new champion.
DAVEY BOY SMITH vs. THE COBRA
Seeing as both of them still had matches with Dynamite Kid coming up, it’s not surprising that this is short. The fact that it’s a bit more flash than substance also isn’t very shocking. Both of them, Davey more than Cobra, play to the crowd quite a bit. It’s quickly established that this is a battle of technique vs. power, with Davey Boy able to send Cobra flying at a moment’s notice, with a shoulder block, or even a simple kick out. When Cobra gets any sort of control over Davey Boy, he does it on the mat trying to wear him down with submissions. The short length doesn’t allow them to bust out a whole lot of spots, but the ones they do are very nice, especially Davey Boy giving him the military press through the ropes and into the ring. The really nice thing about this being kept so simple is that there isn’t much, if any, wasted time. Both of them are quite good at making sure something interesting is going on. Their selling left much to be desired, though, especially Davey Boy’s selling of the tombstone on the floor. There wasn’t any good reason why he couldn’t have just held Cobra’s leg to cause the count out, rather than jump up and suplex him on the floor. Selling aside it’s a great example of simple and effective going hand in hand. ***1/2
DYNAMITE KID vs. DAVEY BOY SMITH
Another match with smart work taking the place of big spots. This time around it’s a case of brains vs. brawn instead of power vs. technique. Davey Boy uses his strength to keep Dynamite at bay, while Dynamite uses his famous high impact offense and his speed to keep Davey worn out. When Davey Boy catches Dynamite with a big move like the military press, or even a small move like a hip toss, Dynamite is damn near up in the lights. But Dynamite always makes sure he’s near the ropes, so he can scurry to the floor, before Davey can put more hurt on him. There is a fair amount of work with holds in the match, but they’re useful in terms of telling the story, and not just used as an excuse to give them both a rest (the term *just* being the key word in that sentence). Dynamite keeps it simple with a head scissors, while Davey tries to stretch out Dynamite with a surfboard. Like the last match, it’s got some flaws, like Davey’s ever present goofy lariat. Selling is another issue. Dynamite’s tombstone and diving headbutt should really have been enough for the pin. The count out finish is a bit frustrating, but it goes with the time period, but seeing as it was Dynamite who took the bump (vertical suplex sending both to the floor), simply rolling into the ring before the count out (and Davey was just seconds too late) doesn’t seem like a reasonable finish. Granted it plays into Davey Boy being tired from his last match, but just one move from Dynamite to keep Davey down would have made it come off much better. ***1/2
THE COBRA vs. DYNAMITE KID
While this has all the excitement and intensity that a decision match for a vacant title should have, it lacks the smart work that the two matches before it contained. Like Cobra’s match with Davey, there is always something going on, but there isn’t any sign of a real story or that either of them really has a game plan. The lack of a story isn’t as frustrating or detrimental as it could have been, because this is so short (only about seven minutes). Cobra’s selling, or lack thereof is especially frustrating. Now the selling had been an issue in the previous two matches, but this is way over the top. On two separate occasions, Dynamite connects a tombstone piledriver. The first attempt sees Cobra pop up and knock Dynamite off the top. The second is a good near fall, but Cobra jumps to his feet moments later to hit Dynamite with a German suplex. Dynamite also uses a gut wrench off the top rope, for another good near fall, but Cobra doesn’t put it over anymore, after he kicks out. The finish they work is very nice though, with Dynamite thinking he’s won after a roll-up, and when he sees he hasn’t, he plants Cobra with a backdrop suplex, and holds the cradle for the pin. But the lack of any real story to the match makes it come off feeling tacked on, or looking like Dynamite just got a lucky break.
One thing that was noticeably absent from New Japan in the early 80's was tag team titles. The 1970's saw New Japan using the NWA North American Tag Titles, but they were abandoned in 1982. New Japan’s working agreement with the WWF in the 1980's gave them control over the WWF Jr. Title, and the WWF Champion would defend the title in New Japan (and Antonio Inoki even held the title briefly). New Japan recognized the WWF International Title as their main singles title. In May of 1985 the WWF International Tag Team Titles were brought back after fourteen years of dormancy, however the New Japan/WWF agreement ended on 10/31/85 and the titles were abandoned. Leaving New Japan to create their own set of titles, and on November 15, 1985 the tournament to crown the first ever International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) Tag Team Champions was started. The final night was on December 12 and the league point winners, Bruiser Brody and Jimmy Snuka, no-showed. The tournament finals wound up being Antonio Inoki and Seiji Sakaguchi facing off against a substitute team, and the same team they’d gone to a thirty minute draw with a few days prior, Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura.
TATSUMI FUJINAMI/KENGO KIMURA vs. ANTONIO INOKI/SEIJI SAKAGUCHI
If you’re a fan of the ground aspect of wrestling, this is certainly not something you’ll want to steer away from. The first ten minutes or so are nearly all spent on the ground, by all four of the competitors. But just like most of the other Inoki matches that I’ve seen, it’s kept on the ground, just for the sake of being kept on the ground. There are a few cool moments that come out of it though, most notably the grounded octopus hold, which is something I’ve never seen before, and doubt I’ll ever see again. But for the most part they just lay around trading holds back and fourth without any sense of urgency to what they do. The only thing that appears to come out of the mat segments is Sakaguchi’s leg becoming the main point of attack. It’s hard to argue that the simple leg grapevines that Fujinami and Kimura were using caused that though. Sakaguchi is only wearing one knee pad, not so coincidentally on the leg that’s being attacked, so it’s a safe bet to assume that he’s got a bad wheel going into the match.
When the match is worked standing up, it’s a lot more exciting. All four of them show the intensity that Dynamite and Cobra were showing in their tournament final, and work a fairly smart match to boot. It’s established early on that Inoki and Sakaguchi can knock Fujinami and Kimura around pretty much with ease. But Fujinami and Kimura are able to gain control of the match by attacking Sakaguchi’s bad leg. Their attacks on it aren’t state of the art, they mostly just kick it when he’s vertical, and stomp it when they get him down. There is one occasion of Fujinami using a figure four. But the lack of real variety of they way they go after the leg, is made up by the selling of it by Sakaguchi, and the intensity that goes into the attacks. When Sakaguchi is able to get something in on Fujinami or Kimura, he really unloads, and when he makes the tag to Inoki, he basically slaps the piss out of them as well. So the pecking order is quickly established.
One of the best moments of the match comes toward the end, when Fujinami and Kimura have once again isolated Sakaguchi and are double-teaming his leg. Kimura attempts a pin, and when he argues with the ref, Sakaguchi has crawled over and tagged, and he turns right around into a flurry of slaps and leg kicks from Inoki. When Fujinami and Inoki work the final stretch, things get a bit silly, with Inoki applying a headlock and Fujinami hitting a backdrop suplex. But just moments later, Inoki jumps to his feet to plant Fujinami with a suplex of his own. The finish also comes more or less out of the blue. Fujinami pinning Inoki by fluke, isn’t bad in itself. Fujinami’s reaction is priceless, but the execution of it, Fujinami doing the Dragon suplex when Inoki lost his footing attempting the Cobra Twist, doesn’t lend itself well to the fluke nature. Not building up to the finish directly makes sense, since by nature a fluke isn’t supposed to be built up to. But the tacked on nature of the finish leaves a bad taste to a very at-times fun match. ***
Conclusion: A very nice way to start off a new reviewing concept, with a pair of shows with lots of enjoyable things on them. I had my hopes up a bit higher for the IWGP Tag Title match, but that’s the nature of the beast sometimes. Definite recommendation for both tapes.