Ryan's Dive into '95 - Part 41 (10/8 - 10/14)
The angle that inspired the nWo, Cactus Jack's epic trolling, a great trios match from RAW, Steve Austin airs his grievances, Hulk Hogan is insane, POWER MAKER II, and more!
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?
So, there’s a bit of a change to the name to the review site (and an updated logo!). Instead of “Ryan’s (w)Restling Reviews”, I opted for something much simpler and less derivative, so you’ll see “Ryan’s Reviews” in your inbox from this point forward.
This week in The Dive, we’ll take a look at the start of an invasion storyline from Japan that had a shocking amount of influence on the western wrestling scene. We’ll review the main event of the big Tokyo Dome show that kicked things off.
In addition, we’ll have visits at our usual stops, including some fun chaos on RAW, more Cactus Jack and Steve Austin shenanigans in ECW, Smoky Mountain entering the fitness supplement arena, and more!
Well…
OCTOBER 9th
NJPW New Japan vs. UWF International Total War
We start off a very noteworthy invasion angle. In fact, it's said that this one in particular was Eric Bischoff's inspiration for the nWo invasion of WCW nearly a year later.
I won’t go TOO far back in the UWF’s history as that alone could take up several articles, but basically, the current Nobuhiko Takada-led incarnation was riding high for a while. The notoriety gained from Takada’s grandstand challenges to New Japan and All Japan’s top stars, the shoot-style action, Takada’s charisma, and Vader as champion led to huge returns at the box office. However, the good times were not to last.
Several factors led to the UWFi’s rapid decline. There was the incident where UWFi star and booker Yoji Anjo got his ass handed to him by Rickson Gracie and Takada’s lack of response to said ass-handing. The fact that he didn’t offer to fight Gracie himself instead of Anjo seriously hurt Takada’s reputation, as did a teased retirement and an attempt at running for office that saw him get thoroughly stomped at the polls.
Aside from missing Takada for some cards due to the failed political bid, UWFi lost some of their stars, such as Kazuo Yamazaki, Kiyoshi Tamura, Vader, and Gary Albright. There was also the burgeoning popularity of promotions like Pancrase, which actually looked more like a shoot than Takada’s offering (because much of it WAS a shoot). Plus, Japanese fans were importing UFC tapes, so the populace had options when it came to watching guys legitimately beat the snot out of each other. UWFi looked like a big fat phony in comparison.
As a last-ditch effort to keep UWFi from crossing the rainbow bridge, Yoji Anjo struck a deal with NJPW legend and then-booker Riki Choshu to form a partnership. Choshu accepted with the caveat that he handles the booking and creative. Choshu’s had some ill feelings towards UWFi, particularly Takada’s lambasting of the NJPW style, so THAT will figure into the outcomes of the matches.
Total War featured a series of NJPW vs. UWFi matches, culminating with UWFi head honcho Takada challenging Keiji Muto for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The idea of Strong Style vs. Shoot-Style seemed to capture the interest of the Japanese fans as the event sold 30,000 tickets before any matches were announced. At the end of the day, around 67,000 strong packed the Tokyo Dome. There was a minimal stage set-up in order to cram more fans into the Dome, and this ended up a record-breaking gate as a result.
The undercard:
Yuji Nagata & Tokimitsu Ishizawa [NJPW] defeat Hiromitsu Kanehara & Kazushi Sakuraba [UWF] when Ishizawa forced Sakuraba to submit to an armbreaker.
Shinjiro Otani [NJPW] defeats Kenichi Yamamoto [UWF] via submission with a crossface chicken wing.
Yoshihiro Takayama [UWF] forced Takashi Iizuka [NJPW] to submit to a Fujiwara armbar.
Naoki Sano [UWF] beat Jushin Thunder Liger [NJPW] with the only pinfall of the evening after a couple of German suplexes.
Funny enough, it was apparently Liger’s decision to put over Sano, not Choshu’s.
Riki Choshu [NJPW] defeats Yoji Anjo [UWF] via Scorpion Deathlock in a match lasting only 4:45. Quite the middle finger from the bookerman here.
Masahito Kakihara [UWF] forces Kensuke Sasaki [NJPW] to submit via heel hook.
Shinya Hashimoto [NJPW] defeats Tatsuo Nakano [UWF] via submission with an armbreaker.
IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Keiji Muto (c) vs. Nobuhiko Takada - With NJPW up 4-3 in the series, Takada needs to win to not only take the IWGP Heavyweight title, but also for UWFi to break even. The general belief going in was that Takada was going to pull off the dub in order to help give UWFi a bit of credibility and to logically progress the feud. We’ll see.
The crowd is quite rabid for this one to start. We start off with some mat-based graps with both guys fighting over leglocks and armbars. Neither man gets a sustained advantage for the first several minutes of the contest.
Muto escapes a hold and goes for his trademark elbowdrop, but Takada evades as we're back to square one. We again hit the mat with Muto working on top for a bit until he just starts stomping and kicking Takada! A spinning back kick knocks Takada on his duff, but Takada comes back with his own kicks, mostly to Muto's leg.
Takada soon gets an anklelock, but Muto breaks via the ropes. Takada catches Muto with a kick to the face and hits some knees, but Muto manages a release German and a back suplex! Moonsault…misses, but Takada is understandably too groggy to follow up. Takada lays in some kicks and goes for a jujigatame, but Muto resists and eventually makes the ropes. I really like how this match is filmed as we routinely get angles like this.
Takada repeatedly kicks Muto's leg out of his, uh, leg, then hits a backdrop driver. Takada gets the jujigatame, but Muto again breaks via the ropes. The crowd BIT on that one. More kicks follow with a nasty one knocking Muto on his knees. However, Muto catches Takada with a dragonscrew and a figure four!
Takada fights for a while and eventually makes the ropes. Muto soon gets another dragonscrew and tries to reapply the hold, but Takada kicks him in the face! Takada comes back with more kicks, with a big one to the back of the head knocking Muto down! Muto catches another kick, so Takada hits an enzuigiri…but Muto shakes it off and gets the figure four again! Takada eventually submits! Muto retains and NJPW wins the series.
*** - I thought the match was good overall, but it wasn't nearly as epic as it should have been. The opening matwork was fairly enjoyable, but it wasn't as compelling as the typical UWFi stuff. It picked up when Takada started blasting Muto with kicks and Muto having to fight from underneath, but it still didn't feel like they completely gelled. Muto felt completely out of his element at times, not knowing how to sell Takada's stuff. Either that, or he simply didn’t give a shit. I like Muto, and he’s had a very good in-ring year, but he isn’t exactly a stranger to mailing it in on occasion.
Having the top guy of a shoot-style promotion tap to a quintessential pro wrestling hold like the figure four didn't exactly help things, but Muto no-selling the enzuigiri to apply the hold popped me for some reason.
So, with NJPW winning the series 5-3 (all via submission, mind you) and UWFi’s ace tapping to the figure four, you’d think this story would be deader than Henry Kissinger, but nope. The storyline was too financially lucrative, so NJPW kept things going for a while. Takada would FINISH THE STORY, actually beating Muto for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at the January 4th Tokyo Dome show in 1996. Another Tokyo Dome show in April 1996 would see the final showdown between the companies as Shinya Hashimoto would wrest the IWGP Heavyweight title away from Takada in the main event. Strong Style was proven again to be superior to Shoot-Style.
While the angle did boffo business, it didn’t exactly do much for UWFi’s fortunes by the end. UWFi would try something similar with Genichiro Tenryu’s WAR promotion, but the damage was long done. UWFi would close its doors before 1996 was out.
WWF Monday Night RAW
Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith & Yokozuna vs. Undertaker, Shawn Michaels & Diesel - That is a HELL of a line-up on paper in terms of 1990s star power. Say what you want about Jim Cornette (really, please do), but Camp Cornette was an underappreciated heel stable.
We pick it up with Owen and Shawn having a sequence that ends with a flying armdrag from Shawn.
Shawn clotheslines Owen out and hiptosses a charging Davey Boy. It's a SIX WAY FRAY! The Dudes whip Owen and Bulldog into a dazed Yokozuna, then Taker and Diesel hit a double-big boot on Yoko! OK, that was pretty cool.
Diesel and Bulldog go at it to preview their upcoming PPV main event, with Diesel bouncing Bulldog from the ring. Undertaker goozles Davey Boy and places him on the apron for more Diesel beatings. Yoko and Diesel now fight it out in a pairing that did surprisingly decent house show numbers around this time. Diesel takes out Yoko with a flying clothesline! Undertaker comes in and hits the OLD SCHOOL (then named “School” heheh) on Yoko.
Yokozuna manages a Samoan drop, but Taker catches him with a MASSIVE DDT. Yoko and Taker had some stinky matches, but I love when they do that DDT spot. We see Waylon Mercy by the entrance watching the goings-on, likely to build to both a match with Diesel on WWF Superstars, and to a showdown with Undertaker that didn’t happen due to Mercy's injuries.
Shawn tags in and soon eats a uranage from Yokozuna. Owen enters and immediately goes for the pin! Awesome weaseling from Owen there. Shawn kicks out, but Camp Cornette works Shawn over for a while, focusing mainly on Shawn’s injured back. Bulldog with a sweet press slam, making sure to do a couple of reps like a good powerhouse.
The heels triple-team Shawn behind the ref’s back as RAW ROLLS ON…
…and we're back with Owen working an assisted abdominal stretch on Shawn.
Dean Douglas HA HA now comes out to observe the action and take notes. Earl Hebner catches the assist on the abdominal stretch and kicks the hands to break it up. Shawn gets a backslide for a close two, but Owen comes back with a hard clothesline. Yoko tags in and hits the wishbone with Owen, then slugs Shawn down. Bulldog checks back in and hits the delayed vertical suplex for HE GOT HIM, NO HE DIDN'T.
Owen tags in and works Shawn over with a chinlock. Shawn fights out but gets hit with a spinning heel kick for another near-fall. Owen argues with the ref and Shawn rolls him up for two.
Owen tries a flying headbutt as RAW ROLLS ON…
…and we're back with both guys down. The Double Feature reveals that Owen’s headbutt missed. Owen tags in Davey Boy, but it's HOT TAG DIESEL! He slugs away at Bulldog and takes out Yokozuna and Owen. Owen clobbers Diesel with the tennis racket, and Bulldog hits his running powerslam! Taker breaks up the pin, but Yoko hits a legdrop on Diesel while Taker is occupied. Bulldog covers and gets the pin! That was a shocker at the time as the WWF champ would rarely ever get pinned in a non-title match back then.
***1/2 - This was a super-fun trios match as they kept things moving at a good clip and gave us some great interactions. Despite not being in the best condition, Yokozuna was really good here, bumping and selling very well and looking like a monster on offense. Owen and Bulldog smartly worked most of the control segment, Shawn was a good face in peril, and his partners held up what they needed to. This was a blast.
Post-match, King Mabel comes out and helps Yokozuna assault Undertaker, with both guys legdropping, elbowdropping, and splashing him. Douglas beats the crap out of Michaels, suplexing him across the ring steps, ribs-first. Bulldog continues pounding away at Diesel as RAW ROLLS ON…
…and we're back with officials trying to clean up the mess left by the heels. That was a really effective beatdown. The heel side of the locker room got to look especially strong for the first time in a while. This was a staple of Bill Watts’ booking style, showing that some of what he had to offer still worked.
Per the storyline, Undertaker suffered a crushed face as a result of Yoko and Mabel’s attack. In reality, Undertaker sustained a broken orbital bone as a result of an errant punch or clothesline (depending on the source) from Mabel during a house show match. Undertaker had actually worked further shows with the injury until the pain got to be unbearable and he had to be assessed. As this trios match was taped before the injury was sustained, it was retroactively used explain Undertaker's absence.
Taker had apparently lost 90% of his orbital floor, meaning his optical nerve was resting on a jagged bone fragment. He could have lost his eye if someone hit him the right way. Surgery was ordered, and Taker was out for several weeks. He'll be back at Survivor Series, which we’ll get to in due time.
WCW Monday Nitro
Mean Gene welcomes a clean-shaven Hulk Hogan to the ring. Hogan (and Jimmy Hart) are infamously dressed completely in black, including Hogan's neckbrace. BLACK ADAAAAMMMM!!!!
Mirror Universe Hogan vows to beat THAT NO GOOD STINKY GIANT if he dares come out to face him! Okerlund lets Hogan know that The Giant is not in the arena due to a restraining order. Hogan accuses a certain promoter in New York of "dying, choking on his own ego". That’s RICH coming from the Hulkster.
Hogan rants about the Hulkamaniacs being trees, then says that shaving Hogan's moustache is the equivalent of spraying graffiti on the Washington Monument or burning the American flag. Good lord, Hulk. He threatens to beat up Gorgeous George in heaven (!) as we hear sirens. It's The Giant’s monster truck followed by a cavalcade of police cars!
Security prevents the Dungeon of Doom from entering the arena, so Hulk threatens to head outside to meet him!
More batshit insanity from Hulk here. The funny thing is that he was actually getting booed by the Chicago fans BEFORE he revealed his new look. He hadn’t been getting the warmest reception for a while, really.
Much like last week’s showdown, this week’s ratings battle ended in a draw. This time, both shows put up a 2.6 rating. The current tally is 2-1-2 in favor of RAW.
OCTOBER 10th
ECW Hardcore TV
We catch up with “Superstar” Steve Austin. He runs down his grievances with WCW, including declined pitches to work with Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, and Sting.
He was promised a US title run that would lead to #1 contendership to the World title, but the latter didn't happen. He refers to himself as the biggest potential superstar in wrestling, which he'd certainly be right about.
“Go out there with an 18-year old German kid and give him seven good minutes.”
After discussing him getting complacent, then injured, then fired, Austin compares the ECW Arena unfavorably to the Dallas Sportatorium. Austin says that the ECW roster is full of misfits and that all he's seen from ECW was “violent crap”. Steve Austin is a REAL wrestler, and he'll show ECW what a TRUE superstar should be.
Great promo here from Steve. Much like Cactus Jack, these promos are likely cathartic as there's quite lot of genuine emotion behind them. Excellent delivery here. Some will say that it's a bit too inside-baseball, but it was effective and definitely fit the vibe of the character and the company at the time.
Cactus Jack vs. El Puerto Ricano - Cactus has Raven out here with him at ringside. Puerto Ricano also wrestled under his real name (Pablo Márquez) and Ubas in ECW. He also had a stint in the WWF as Babu, Tiger Ali Singh's often-degraded manservant in 1998-99.
Ricano dropkicks Jack in the back of the head to start things off. A further series of dropkicks (some hitting, some not) follow, as does an Asai moonsault! Jack knocks Ricano off the ropes and teases a Cactus Elbow…but he refuses to do the move! The crowd HATES this. Ricano comes back in, so Jack applies a headlock takeover to REALLY piss off the bloodthirsty crowd.
The crowd responds with booing and THE WAVE as Joey Styles proclaims this to be the worst wrestling match in history. Ricano fights out and beats down Cactus. A couple of slaps follow, then Ricano SPITS on him. Jack rakes the eyes and tosses Ricano, where Raven hits a DDT on the floor. Raven tosses Ricano back in, where Jack pins him with a small package (with a pull of the tights for good measure).
*1/2 - Taken purely as a match by itself, it wasn't much, but this was a masterclass in crowd control from Foley. Jack deliberately worked a slow, boring match and eschewed the hardcore aspects of his offense in order to piss off the fans, and it worked brilliantly. It’s so much fun seeing the often-smug Philly “smarks” getting played like a fine-tuned piano here. I also loved Jack grabbing the tights during the pin despite Ricano being completely unconscious. Ricano was a bit sloppy but had some athletic potential; however, match was all about this new direction for Cactus.
Post-match, Raven orders Jack to keep beating on Ricano. Jack is initially resistant, but soon caves and heaps abuse onto his defeated opponent. Raven continues the beating on the floor as Tommy Dreamer runs in to get him some of Cactus. Dreamer DDTs both guys and hits his OWN Cactus Elbow on Jack. However, Raven knocks Dreamer into the guardrail to derail a chair-assisted Cactus Elbow. Dreamer is busted open as both guys continue pounding him down. After some resistance, Jack double-arm DDTs Dreamer onto a chair.
Raven continues beating the crap out of Dreamer. Cactus re-enters the ring and drops a barbed-wire elbow onto Dreamer. Raven introduces a table as this thing just keeps going. Jack puts Dreamer through it with a barbed-wire assisted elbow as The Pitbulls FINALLY come out to chase off the heels. As a result of this vile attack, Dreamer’s face was so badly beaten, bloated, puffy, and swollen that ECW released this picture of the aftermath:
Truly grim.
Man, that beatdown just didn't do it for me. It dragged out too long and went against some of what Jack said in previous promos and what he accomplished in the match with El Puerto Ricano.
We catch up to Jack and Raven backstage. Raven cuts his usual promo about Tommy Dreamer. Foley takes over, stating he had to assault Dreamer because his words weren't getting through.
Cactus fell asleep watching WCW (hey, I've done that, too!) and woke up believing Dreamer was there as a tag champ, but in reality, it was “two replicas”. See, Dreamer used to wear suspenders and pants like a certain pair of American Males did. This scared the shit out of Jack because if WCW isn’t able to get what they want, they can just make their own version. Jack saw the magic of WCW as they managed to turn “a tough Jewish kid from Brooklyn” into “a Black guy from Macon” and “a kid from New Hampshire” in “a Frenchman”. It’s kinda funny to think that said Frenchman would “end” Foley’s career in 2000.
He rips into ECW's degenerative power, going in on The Rotten Brothers and especially Mikey Whipwreck, who went from a nice kid to someone you couldn’t have a ten-word conversation with due to the number of concussions he’s sustained. He hates that ECW turned Tommy Dreamer into a bloodthirsty monster.
“WCW is a proud organization. They have a deserved reputation for family values.”
Cactus continues to plead to Dreamer to go to WCW in order to save both their souls.
Another great promo from Cactus. His backhanded WCW toadying is hilarious, and him becoming completely unhinged by the end adds a true level of menace. Foley is one of those rare guys in wrestling who can convincingly mix humor and tragedy in a single promo. Raven wisely let Jack do all the talking.
OCTOBER 14th
Smoky Mountain Wrestling
We start off this week’s SMW coverage with a commercial for POWER MAKER II! Essentially, it’s a fitness supplement akin to the WWF’s IcoPro. It's so hot, there's smoke coming from the bottle!
It makes the totally legit claim below:
We get clips of SMW guys past and present, like Brad Armstrong, Buddy Landel, Chris Jericho, and THE WOLFMAN.
Get YOURS for only $33.00 (+$4.95 shipping and handling)!
The Wolfman had an affiliation with the manufacturer of the “safe” anabolic alternative, so as a condition for the company sponsoring SMW, Jim Cornette had to push him.
Just for shits and giggles, I Googled the phone number, and it looks like it’s attached to a sketchy pharmaceutical company (Life Extension). Is it the same company that made Power Maker II? Let me know!
We cut to Dirty White Boy chatting it up. He and the other babyfaces are asked why they don't want to team with Buddy Landel. Simply put, they don't trust him after all the shit he did to them. He understands Buddy's position, but Landel has to prove himself just like DWB had to years ago.
This makes a ton of sense; babyfaces should not be quick to trust a reformed heel, especially one who was as big a dick as Landel. I also like how DWB related his own experience post-face turn.
We kick it to Les Thatcher with Buddy Landel. Budro does a hilarious impression of Tommy Rich, then brings it back to gravity by discussing the series of “Faces of Fear” matches they'll have at the end of the month.
Another fun promo from Landel here. His stuff from around this time isn't as legendary as Mick Foley's, but he's got #2 promo guy for 1995 locked down at the very least. I won’t even argue anyone who puts him above Mick.
Jim Cornette and The Heavenly Bodies now join Les to discuss the upcoming street fight with The Thugs.
They complain about Robert Gibson being the guest referee as they believe he won't be impartial. Dr. Tom Prichard piles on the corny insults about Dirty White Boy and insinuates an adult relationship with Dirty White Girl. Spicy!
The Thugs take exception and beat the crap out of the Bodies as the show goes off the air.
WCW Saturday Night
We’re on the Mothership this week with footage from WCW Pro earlier in the morning. Ric Flair asks Sting to come out one last time and accept his offer for partnership. Sting promptly shoots Flair down again, but Ric has one last ace up his sleeve: the LITTLE STINGERS. Flair brings out four young Sting fans to support his cause. It looks like a gathering of junior juggalos.
Sting didn't think that even Flair, as a father, would stoop as low as to use children like this, so he does end up giving Flair the benefit of the doubt and finally chooses to be his tag partner to take on Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman. He says that if Flair SWERVES him even a little, Sting will leave Flair for dead. Dead, dead, dead.
Yeah, I know that the “Sting trusts Flair, only to get his ass kicked” is a well-worn cliché, but at least in this case, he knew it was a possibility.
Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman are at the interview area with Mean Gene, who asks about the reformed partnership between Flair and Sting.
Pillman says Flair had been a shell of his former self and looks forward to the “warm-up” match on the upcoming Nitro between the two teams ahead of their clash at Halloween Havoc. Anderson says him and Pillman are NO warm-up. They have all of the momentum! They will see Sting and Flair on Nitro!
I talked a LOT about that NJPW/UWFi stuff, but the week honestly belonged to Cactus Jack. Despite a misstep with the post-match beatdown, the psychology he displayed in his match and another stellar promo in a series of them really elevates his case for 1995’s MVP.
NEXT TIME: It’s another Pillars tag team match from AJPW! Plus, the Syracuse incident with Shawn Michaels, plenty of action from Monday night, Rey vs. Psicosis, and more!
Smell ya later!