Ryan's Dive into '95 - Part 33 (8/13 - 8/19)
We wrap up the G1 Climax, we have vignettes and promos, and Waylon Mercy murders a clown!
If you haven’t read it already, please check out my introductory article that explains what this series is all about. As a reminder, footage is sourced from the Goodhelmet 1995 Yearbook, unless otherwise stated.
How ya now?
This is going to be a fairly light week aside from the G1 Climax stuff. We’ll still have some vignettes and promos, but things should be relatively breezy.
Well…
AUGUST 13th
NJPW G1 Climax, Night Three - It’s Night Three, and we’re already at the final block matches.
B Block: Shinya Hashimoto [2] vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan [2] - This is a ‘win and you’re in’ scenario as the victor here will be among the two finalists for the B block; same for the winner of Scott Norton [2] vs. Kensuke Sasaki [2] later in the night.
It's not long before both guys start kicking, slapping, forearming, and chopping each other, much to my delight. Tenzan downs Hash with a Mongolian Chop to get the first upper hand. They stalemate for a bit until Tenzan gets a Mountain Bomb out of nowhere. Tenzan maintains the advantage with varying chops and headbutts until Hash returns fire with stiff chops of his own.
After some more offense from Hash, Tenzan goes for the leg and takes back over with chops and kicks aplenty. Tenzan lands some headbutts, but Shinya is HASHING UP and gets right in Tenzan's face.
Hash tries to withstand the assault, but the headbutts eventually knock him down. Tenzan goes for a charge, but Hash fires back with a BIG dropkick! Hash lays in some sturdy kicks and drops a big elbow for two. Tenzan tries to power through some Hash kicks, but a big one to the head knocks his dick in the dirt, as does a DDT. Tenzan ducks a spinning heel kick and lands one of his own, then we get some more Mongolian chops, including one off the top rope! Top rope headbutt gets two!
Tenzan hits a moonsault (a move he was actually banned from using after losing a match to Keiji Muto earlier in the year) for another two! Hashimoto suddenly hits a flying enzuigiri out of nowhere and a spinning heel kick! A kick to the head and a brainbuster sends Hashimoto to the semi-finals.
***1/2 - This was a fun meaty man encounter; another G1 match that cut out a lot of the fat and simply gave us two heavyweights beating the piss out of each other for just north of 10 minutes. The promising-yet-unpolished Tenzan stepped up quite well to the Musketeer, but Hash was too wily and driven to be put down by the emerging star on this night.
We join an A Block match, Ric Flair [3] vs. Keiji Muto [2], in progress. Flair goes for a top rope move, but instead of being thrown off as per usual, Muto meets him up there and suplexes him instead, causing Flair to scream in pain. The cut that Muto sustained in his prior match has reopened.
Muto mocks the WOO and mounts some offense as Flair begs off. Moonsault…misses! Flair punches away at the cut as Keiji Moxley spills blood all over the place.
Flair continues to work the wound, dropping a knee on the head. Ric turns his attention to the knee, and it's FIGURE FOUR TIME.
After some struggle, Muto reverses the hold. There's blood damn near everywhere as Muto reverses another Figure Four attempt with an inside cradle for two. Muto gets a backslide for two, and his forehead is just pissing the red stuff. Small package out of nowhere gets two for Muto, and he fires up after a Flair chop! Flair begs off! I don't blame him; I’d beg for my life if I had THIS looking back at me.
Muto mounts a comeback, culminating in a moonsault (that Ric had to slightly scooch in to receive) for three! We didn't get the full match, but what we saw was awesome. Absolutely incredible drama here.
Elsewhere, Masahiro Chono [1] defeated Shiro Koshinaka [2] to tie with Flair in second place in the A Block. Since the match between Flair and Chono went to a draw, NJPW used the amount of time it took each guy to beat Koshinaka as the tie-breaker. As Chono defeated Koshinaka more quickly, he advanced to the mini-tournament. Scott Norton defeated Kensuke Sasaki to take the runner-up spot in the B Block.
After Night Three, the final blocks standings are as follows:
A Block:
Keiji Muto - 4
Masahiro Chono - 3
Ric Flair - 3
Shiro Koshinaka - 2
B Block:
Shinya Hashimoto - 4
Scott Norton - 4
Kensuke Sasaki - 2
Hiroyoshi Tenzan - 2
For the semifinals on Night Four, we have A Block winner Muto vs. B Block runner-up Norton, and B Block winner Hashimoto renews hostilities with A Block second-placer Chono.
AUGUST 14th
WWF Monday Night RAW - We cut to the finish of… Waylon Mercy vs. Doink? The hell is THIS doing here? We pick up with Mercy lariating Doink's head off like he was back in All Japan. The crowd cheers loudly when Mercy puts on the sleeperhold. Mercy's facials are amazing.
LOUD “KILL THE CLOWN!” chants fill the Worcester Centrum, and the place pops for Mercy’s win. OK, that was great. The fans have had ENOUGH of the clown, and I can’t blame them. Heel Doink as portrayed by Matt Bourne was AWESOME, but once the babyface turn happened and Doink started being played by competent-yet-bland Ray Apollo, it became the drizzling shits.
This wasn’t the end of the Doink character in 1995, but it was very close. He’d do an enhancement job here and there before the act was put out to pasture for a while. We’d continue to get odd one-off revivals of the gimmick over the years, like when Steve Austin beat his ass at the 1997 Slammy Awards. During the 2000’s, the character was played in The Fed by guys like Steve Lombardi, Nick Dinsmore, Ray Apollo in the WrestleMania X-Seven Gimmick Battle Royal, and one last time by Bourne in the RAW 15th Anniversary battle royal.
We now get our first actual glimpse of Goldust who is outside of the Warner Bros. studio lot (well, a green screen with it on there, anyway).
Goldy talks about old-school Hollywood stars and how they had to work to be famous, whereas *inhales deeply* Goldust was born a star. He wants to add WWF championship gold to the rest of his goldness.
This was firmly in the “movie-obsessed weirdo” stage of the character, but Dustin Rhodes already had some of the characteristics in place (the mannerisms, way of speaking, etc.). The Hollywood aspect was apparently inspired by his father Dusty's love of movies, and Vince McMahon came up with the ideas of the name and Dustin being covered in gold. This specific vignette was written and produced by Vince Russo, BRO.
Next, it’s the Report Card with Dean Douglas.
Douglas is wearing suspenders and a belt like a complete dork.
This week, Dean talks about “execution”, then proceeds to dissect a recent performance from Bret “The Hitman” Hart. Basically, dropping an elbow on a downed, helpless opponent isn't “excellent”, but an act of COWARDICE. He then bitches about Hart not hooking a leg during a pin and arguing with the ref.
Dean awards Bret a grade of “F” for “Foundation of Failure”.
AUGUST 15th
NJPW G1 Climax, Night Five - Our long and arduous G1 journey comes to an end with the finals. We skip past the mini-tournament on Night Four where Keiji Muto defeated Scott Norton and Shinya Hashimoto got past Masahiro Chono to set up today’s finals.
G1 Climax Finals: Keiji Muto vs. Shinya Hashimoto - Shinya is looking to not only win the G1, but also get a measure of revenge for Muto taking his IWGP Heavyweight Championship earlier in the year.
You can tell it's a special occasion because the ring announcer is in his white Sgt. Pepper get-up.
We start off understandably slow with some mat graps to ease into things. Muto uses his amateur skills to keep Hashimoto grounded while Hash uses more traditional pro wrestling and his power to keep Muto at bay. Muto tries a spinning back kick, but Hash calmly catches it and applies a leglock. Hash hits a knee to the breadbasket then tries his own kick, but Muto catches and lands a dragonscrew. Muto works over the leg, because Muto.
Hash escapes, but Muto immediately goes back to work with an Indian deathlock. Hashimoto breaks via the ropes and collects himself at ringside. Muto again goes for the leg, but Hash is ready and grounds him to work over the arm. Hash hits an armbreaker and lands his first kick of the match, but Muto immediately picks the leg to ground Hashimoto. After a half-crab, Hash kicks his way out of a legbar, but Muto spinkicks the leg and hits his ever-awesome elbow. Muto goes for a leglock, but Hash wrestles his way into an armbar.
Hashimoto continues with a standing armbar, but Muto lays in the headbutts and chops, then the springboard elbow→ facecrusher combo. German and dragon suplex attempts are rebuffed, so Muto locks in the Royal Octopus Hold instead. Hash escapes and comes back with overhand chops to the neck. Brainbuster attempt is thwarted, so Hash gets a BEAUTY of a snap belly-to-belly suplex and a dropkick for two! Oh, shit, Hash settles into the kicking stance!
Hash lays in some big midsection kicks that Muto is able to endure, but a head kick knocks Muto on his ass. Spinning heel kick and a big DDT each earn close two-counts for Hashimoto. Muto counters a fisherman's buster with an armbar! Hash makes the ropes, so Muto lands a big back suplex and a springboard dropkick. Top rope Frankensteiner hits! Hashimoto kicks out! Moonsault misses, but Muto lands on his feet…only to have his legs swept out from under him! They trade blows until Hash lands another head kick! He's feeling it again!
Another huge head kick, but Muto kicks out at two! HUGE running DDT from Hashimoto gets another two! Muto tries to counter a brainbuster, but he lands on his own head! That was a brutal landing. The cut on Muto's head has reopened! Hash scales the ropes and goes for a flying splash/elbow, but Muto rolls out of the way. A weary Muto goes for a moonsault, but THAT misses! The crowd is absolutely AMPED at this point.
Frankensteiner from Muto gets two! Moonsault lands…but Hash kicks out! Muto immediately goes for another one, and THAT is enough for the three and the G1 Climax tournament win!
****1/4 - Undoubtedly the best match of what was a great tournament quality-wise for Muto. Sure, it started off slow, but it felt like everything was purposeful, the variety in the matwork kept things interesting, and it built into an absolute fever pitch at the end. They beat the hell out of each other, which I always appreciate. One thing I really liked was that Hashimoto could have worked over the cut, but, being an honorable competitor, opted not to, unlike those scoundrels Chono and Flair. Could that have cost him? Who knows.
Hashimoto turned in a great performance here, but this tournament was a masterclass in drama, facial expressions, execution, and storytelling by Muto. Dave Meltzer called the tournament a disappointment overall. I can't speak for the matches I didn't see, but what I saw was mostly great stuff.
Post-match, Muto is awarded some big-ass trophies (but not the massive G1 trophy and flag that we’ve seen in recent years), a BVD jacket, and a giant check. Hash raises Muto's hand because sportsmanship. Muto cuts an impassioned promo to take things home.
As of 2023, Muto was the first of only two reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champions to win the G1 Climax tournament, the other being Kensuke Sasaki in 2000.
ECW Hardcore TV - Cactus Jack is sitting on the floor backstage by himself. He laments that he was two hours late getting to a building he’s been to hundreds of times because he forgot the way, then talks about the various nasty stuff he's been through as a wrestler. Wrestling has destroyed some of his physical and mental competencies.
Only one person understands him, though: Raven. Jack apologizes to Tommy Dreamer and Mikey Whipwreck as anyone standing in Raven’s way will have to deal with him. He says he may even KILL THEM to get it overwith, then closes with an unhinged “BANG! BANG!”. This was a great promo to get across his rationale for his heel turn, the partnership with Raven, and his eventual shift away from the hardcore style.
AUGUST 19th
WCW Saturday Night - No USWA or SMW this go-round, so well cap off the week on The Mothership with the Dungeon of Doom. The Master and The Taskmaster introduce their newest warrior: THE CANNIBAL (The Master's words, not mine), MENG!
Meng comes out wearing what looks like a boar head helmet. It kinda reminds me of that monster in Homer Simpson's “SpringShield” commercial.
Unlike goofs like The Zodiac, Shark, and even Kamala, Meng had at least been presented as a legit monster while he was working as Col. Robert Parker's heavy. Plus, we've all heard the stories of Meng being an absolute hardass in real life, so this at least gives the DoD a smidgen of credibility.
The G1 dominated this week, and rightfully so. Check out the matches we looked at this week, especially that final match. Great stuff!
NEXT TIME: We take a look at the legendary IWA Japan King of the Death Match tournament. Plus, we get some Michinoku Pro, PWFG, and Malenko vs. Guerrero in a 2 out of 3 Falls match.
Smell ya later!