NJPW Wrestling Dontaku in Fukuoka Dome 5/3/1993

NJPW Wrestling Dontaku in Fukuoka Dome 5/3/1993

This is the TV version, so if anything is missing or out of order, blame that.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to New Japan Pro Wrestling, Wrestling Dontaku in Fukuoka Dome show. Let's start!" - Masa Saito

Kengo Kimura, Shiroh Koshinaka, The Great Kabuki, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Masashi Aoyagi VS Super Strong Machine, Tatsutoshi Goto, Hiro Saito, Takashi Ishikawa [WAR], Ashura Hara [WAR]

Shiro Koshinaka got the win for his team with a powerbomb. I think everyone who checks this out knows that these types of matches really don't work out too well on my blog. I'm just not into these put every guy on the card matches with nothing really interesting happening.

Jushin Thunder Liger vs Tiger Mask III (Koji Kanemoto)

The finish

Tiger Mask III beat Jushin Thunder Liger with a tiger suplex. Tiger was pretty off here and Liger was definitely on. I think they made the wrong call here with the winner. Not one of the better junior matches due to all the spot blowing. Rating:*

Scott Norton vs Sting

Sting beat Scott Norton by ref stoppage due to blood. This one was a disaster. Norton hurt his knee a few minutes in and since his offense is all power moves, he couldn't do much without his knee. He then hit a massive blade job after hitting the post and the doctor at ringside stopped it a few minutes later. No rating for this because it's not really fair. Looked like it was going to be decent though.

Masa Chono and Shinya Hashimoto vs The Hell Raisers

The Hellraisers won with a Doomsday Device. This didn't really get going until the end when the Raisers got fired up. Still a decent match though but it needed more time and it needed to pick up quicker. Sasaki was really good here. Rating:**

Hiroshi Hase vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Yoshiaki Fujiwara beat Hiroshi Hase with a fujiwara armbar out of nowhere to take the match. Fujiwara got beat on most of the match as evidenced above and after Hase ran to the ropes to gain speed, Fujiwara hit a surprise armbar to take it. Good match but I didn't like the ending. I'm not a real fan of sudden endings unless the situations were set right, and this one wasn't. A shame too because they were building for something good up to this. Rating:**1/2

Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami vs Riki Choshu and Genichiro Tenryu

Tatsumi Fujinami pinned Riki Choshu while Choshu's hand was on the bottom rope. Really good match here. The crowd was into it and they gave this alot of time. It never dragged though. It was four legends working old school and putting on a good match. The heels controlled most of this with the faces making fiery comebacks until they got the win in the end. This is classic pro wrestling. Rating:****1/2

Masa Saito then interviewed Hulk Hogan.

"The IWGP belt is the most important belt in the world today and that's why I'm here. I'm gonna prove to you Saito, NJPW and all the Hulkamaniacs that Hulk Hogan can beat Great Muta in the ring." - Hulk Hogan

"IWGP belt ichiban da ne." - Hulk Hogan

"The WWF belt is just a stepping stone. I want the IWGP belt." - Hulk Hogan

IWGP Champion vs WWF Champion - The Great Muta vs Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan gets misted by The Great Muta

The finish

Hulk Hogan beat The Great Muta with the Axe Bomber. Really weird match here. Hogan brought his A-game that's he's never brought to the US before and Muta was pretty lazy until picking it up later in the match. Hulk also had some weird feud with Tiger Hattori going on here and kind of came off as the heel even though Muta was surely the heel. The crowd didn't care too much for Hogan and instead was all about Muta. Okay, just everything was weird here but it wasn't a bad match at all. Hulk gave his best effort and had Muta also, it would have been better. This is worth seeing just for the novelty of seeing Hulk actually work. Rating:**3/4

Overall thoughts: Pretty good show with some odd stuff on it. Both main events delivered and the main event tag team match was a true classic! This was the TV version so I didn't have to sit through Brutus Beefcake's match which surely helped this. This is worth a look.