By Justin Baisden

For some reason, there isn’t a person in North America that can get a hold of the live PPV version of this show. As a result, I had to settle for the TV special which isn’t that good with the exception of the main event.

We open with a highlight package of Kensuke Sasaki and Toshiaki Kawada respectively beating the crap out of different opponents. Then the history of the feud between the two wrestlers is covered which brings up to the big match.

Kensuke Sasaki (New Japan) vs Toshiaki Kawada (All Japan)

Something of note which you don’t usually see every day. As Kawada makes his way down the very long ramp of the Tokyo Dome, the fans are actually throwing garbage and bottles at him. What the hell? Since when do Japanese fans do things like that? Ah well… Kawada got a huge pop. However, this is a NJPW Dome Show so Sasaki gets an even bigger pop for his entrance. The crowd is jacked beyond belief for this match up. Big stare down to start. Kawada plays a little mind games by doing his pre-match stretch after the bell starts. Oooohhh! Collar elbow tie up to start and each guy is trying to show off his power. Sasaki goes for a chop but Kawada ducks and cinches in a headlock. Sasaki reverses into one of his own. Kawada fires him off into the ropes and Sasaki responds by steam rolling over Kawada with a shoulderblock. Sasaki lays in some STIFF forearm shots. Sasaki with some chops but Kawada responds with a big kick to the face. Kawada goes for the jumping head kick but Sasaki blocks and clocks Kawada with a stiff right cross. Kawada is hurting from that one. Kawada gets back up, gets a double leg takedown and now his lays in some punches from the mounted position. Kawada gets in a standing rear chinlock but Sasaki reverses into a judo throw and follows up with LARIATOOOOOOOO!!! The crowd ERUPTS! The lariat has got to be the most over move in Japanese wrestling history. Sasaki lays in a stiff kick to Kawada’s leg. Uh oh… Sasaki you fool. You don’t kick Kawada. Kawada no sells (obviously) and lays in a stiff kick of his own. They go back and forth with the kicks. This is AJPW stiff which is definitely a change from the NJPW heavyweight style (except for Hashimoto). Sasaki lays in some DISGUSTING chops. Kawada is no selling and responding with chops of his own. Ugh… my chest hurts just watching these guys chop each other. Kawada the cocky bastard actually points to his chest calling out Sasaki. The crowd is going bonkers here. Kawada gets sick of the chops and lays in a big time kick to the head. Sasaki responds with a NASTY SLAP!!! Now they’re slapping each other. Ugh… why are they hurting each other like this? This is stiff city! Kawada being the smarter of the two stops slapping and lays in a closed fist. He follows up with a gorgeous jumping head kick. Kawada hits a running giri. Sasaki falls back into the corner and Kawada hits another stiff running giri. Here come the kicks. Kawada lays in seven consecutive stiff kicks to the chest and then a BRUTAL kick to the head. Kawada picks up the limp Sasaki and lays in some more stiff chops. Kawada gets in a wristlock followed up with a sidekick. Kawada hits the BACKDROP DRIVER!!! The crowd is climbing the walls. Kawada goes for the cover and gets two. Kawada slaps on the stretch plumb but Sasaki reaches the ropes. Kawada goes for a cover but Sasaki immediately kicks out. He hulks up but then drops to the mat. Kawada tries for the high angle powerbomb but Sasaki powers out and backdrops him. Kawada gets right back up and hits a big kick to the head but Sasaki no sells hits a BIG TIME LARIATOOOOOOOO!!! This is turning into white-hot heat. Sasaki hits his judo head drop. Sasaki hits a Fisherman Bomb (no I’m not thinking of a Fisherman’s Buster, this was different). Sasaki hits another LARIATOOOOOOOO!!! for 2 and ¾. The crowd heat is burning the place up. Sasaki cinches in a Sasumegatime (Sharpshooter). Sasaki lets go and attempts to hit another lariat but Kawada actually no sells and now they go back and forth no selling the lariat. Sasaki eventually knocks Kawada down with the lariat but Kawada actually no sells and hits a running giri. Sasaki gets right back up and hits another LARIATOOOOOOOO!!! He attempts to finish it with the Northern Lights Bomb but Kawada blocks it. Sasaki tries for another lariat but Kawada counters with a picture perfect jumping head kick. Kawada hits three consecutive jumping head kicks. On the fourth attempt, Sasaki responds with a lariat to the leg. Sasaki runs into the ropes and goes for one more lariat but Kawada cuts him off with one more jumping head kick and that gets the three count. Goddamn that was one of the hottest crowds that I’ve ever heard. This match was FUCKING STIFF! Leave it to Kawada to pull such a good match out of Sasaki. ****

Masa Fuchi & Koshinaka vs Masahiro Chono & Mr. T

No it’s not the Mr. T that you are thinking of. I’m not even sure why he was called Mr. T when they were promoting the match. Mr. T is basically dressed as Strong Machine from the early nineties. Chono is CRAZY OVER with the crowd. I remember back in the day when Chono had zero charisma but could wrestle his ass off. Now he’s Mr. Charisma but doesn’t wrestle all that well. You can draw an almost direct comparison to Rocky Maivia. Ah well… on to the match, which is clipped pretty much to the last five minutes. We start out with Koshinaka and Fuchi double teaming Chono. Fuchi hits an enziguri and Koshinaka follows up with a nice powerbomb. Mr. T makes the save at 2 and ½. Mr. T holds Koshinaka but the classic heel mis-timing results in Chono hitting the Yakuza kick on Mr. T. Chono manages to take control and slaps on a neck wrench. He lets go, tags in Mr. T and they hits a nice looking backdrop – chokeslam combo. If you watch Kawada and Taue tag team at all then you know what I’m talking about. Mr. T hits a bridging chicken wing suplex for 2 and ¾. Mr. T goes for a German suplex but Koshinaka reverses into a schoolboy roll up for two and ½. Mr. T recovers and hits a nice overhead pump handle slam. Chono gets back in and hits a Yakuza kick. He holds Koshinaka and Mr. T hits a lariat for three. The clipped version has Fuchi hitting all of one move in the whole match. Ugh… the clipping gets *1/2

Shinya Hashimoto vs Tatsumi Fujinami

Hashimoto looks to have dropped a lot of weight. I’d peg him around the 280lb mark. Fujinami has no place wrestling in my opinion. He was great in his prime but now he’s the president of the company. At least this was only the opener on the PPV show instead of main eventing. ANYWAY… this match is clipped. YEAH!!! They get into a slap fest and then go into outright punching each other in the face. Ugh… that doesn’t look nice. Hashimoto lays in a stiff kick. He goes for a roundhouse kick but Fujinami ducks and lays in some stiff forearm shots. They go back and forth with the forearms. Hashimoto lays in a really stiff kick to the head. Fujinami no sells so Hashimoto lays in another one and then a third one. Ugh… old man Fujinami shouldn’t be taking shots like this. Fujinami is having none of this and lays in a couple more forearms. Hashimoto makes the old man pay with one more roundhouse kick and that takes Fujinami down. Ugh… Fujinami is bleeding from the mouth. Uh oh… that doesn’t look too good. Hashimoto cinches him up for the Vertical Drop DDT and the crowd gets hot. Fujinami manages to block so Hashimoto settles for a regular DDT. Hashimoto slaps on an elbowlock-wristlock submission hold and that’s it. Uh… what? I’m pretty sure Fujinami was legitimately hurt and the whole mouth bleeding would attest to that. It was clipped to about ½ of the actual match and what I saw was below solid. *3/4

Well that’s the ball game. No one buys this tape for the two other matches. It’s all about Sasaki vs Kawada. That match delivered about as much as one would expect. The white-hot crowd made it seem all the better. I’d probably have had a far different rating if the crowd were dead. I can only recommend this show based on the historical value of the main event. Other than for that, I wouldn’t bother. However, there is one added perk to the tape, THE JAPANESE COMMERCIALS! My favourite commercial from this show is the "J-Phone" commercial featuring a bloody martial arts fight between the hot chick and the cyborg trying to steal her cell phone. HA!! Great stuff.