I have decided to review a few matches from one tape, the tape in question is NJPW Skydiving J '96, which I eventually got a hold of a few week ago. Anyway before I get to the reviews just let me give a cheap plug to Paltaper from whom I got this tape from, the VQ is immaculate, it's like watching a DVD as are all his tapes, so check him out. (El Hijo Del John Kennedy)

Haku was quite the name in Japan, back before his WWF run. He was a former Sumo competitor, before leaving that to work with All Japan in 1977. This is probably why he's teaming up with native legend Jumbo Tsuruta. Perfect & Martel are just there as the fall guys. The match is very old school in its approach, with Haku playing face-in-peril for a long time before making the hot tag to Tsuruta who cleans up for quick win. Reasonably interesting from a historical standpoint of seeing Jumbo working with three WWF guys, but hardly a great moment for him. Blah match.

Randy Savage (w/ Sensational Queen Sherri) vs Genichiro Tenryu

The Japanese aren't used to old style heels and interfering female managers all that much, so Savage's stalling routine goes down incredibly well with the natives. The two manage to construct an interesting match, which is more notable for the crowd heat than anything the wrestlers actually did. Funny (and embarrassing) to see Savage deliver two of the worst looking clotheslines known to man, in a country where the clothesline is over as a match-ending move, granted,
Tenryu didn't exactly sell them like much, but pretty inexcusable all the same. Tenryu wraps it up with an enzuigiri and a powerbomb for the three count. Savage seemed only mildly interested, as was usual during his 'Macho King' period. Worth a look.

Ted DiBiase vs Ultimate Warrior

This is for Warrior's recently won WWF Title. Warrior is way over with the Japanese crowd, who once again prove that no matter how elitist puroresu reviewers can be over things like talent and workrate, the actual native puroresu fans will pop for the same crap the Americans will. Actually, the fact that Tiger Jeet Singh was huge in Japan proves that if anything they are even less picky. Anyway this match was awful. Warrior posed a bit, pushed DiBiase round the ring for a while, and finished with a couple of lariats and a splash. DiBiase's few moments on offence mid match were spent jawing with the ringside crowd, which pretty much tells me that he couldn't even be bothered trying to work with the Warrior. Pathetic excuse for a match, so I suggest you fast forward. I watched this match so you don't have to.

Andre The Giant & Giant Baba vs Demolition

Much like Warrior, Demolition were fresh off winning the titles at WrestleMania, but unlike Warrior, they're not protected at all and made to practically wrestle themselves as they bump around for the embarrassingly bad "offence" of Andre & Baba. The fans are eating the Giant's offence up with a spoon (see what I mean about the Japanese cheering any old crap?) as Ax & Smash try their hardest to make it look like the two broken down old men are actually hurting them. I feel their pain in a different way, of course. If you've ever seen either Baba or Andre, you can imagine how bad it is. Fast forward and don't look back.

Hulk Hogan vs Stan Hansen

This was the main event of the evening, with Hogan taking on Stan Hansen (after Terry Gordy had refused to put Hogan over, so the story goes.) I remember reading in Pro Wrestling Illustrated back in the day about how it was a huge shock that Hogan could beat Hansen, and indeed twelve years later when I see the match, it truly is shocking. Nothing to do with the result, of course, but rather to do with the strangely high match quality. This is unquestionably the most watchable Hogan match I've ever seen, suggesting that behind all those abysmal performances lurked a competent wrestler, Well, whatever the story, Hogan went to work in this match, segueing nicely between keeping the brawler Hansen subdued with wrestling holds, and then going outside the ring to get hardcore with some tables, and doing a decent blade job. This is Bizarro Hogan. Back in the ring, Hogan finishes off with a clothesline from hell for the three count. This is Hogan's greatest ever match, coming a mere twelve days after what I had previously believed was Hogan's greatest ever match (versus Warrior at WrestleMania), suggesting to me that for a fortnight in 1990, Hogan really WAS great. Of course, he'd be back to his usual tricks pretty soon afterwards in the WWF, taking months at a time off to make crappy movies, having crappy matches with Earthquake and demanding he be given back the WWF Title. Ah well. Hogan's performance in this match exempts him from any further abuse for now.

Kenta Kobashi & Masa Fuchi vs Jimmy Snuka & Tito Santana

As a Kobashi fan, it was interesting to see this early match in his career. He had yet to graduate to wear orange, instead opting for red trunks. Even back in this early point in his career, Kobashi had a certain spark which kept him interesting, which is no mean feat when he's in there with Tito Santana & Jimmy Snuka. Actually, Santana (to his credit) seems to be one of the WWF wrestlers who is actually making an effort on this card, looking more watchable here than I remember him being back in the day. Snuka, on the other hand, looks not-at-all interested. I wonder if (since this card wasn't being shown in the US) most of the WWF roster decided it wasn't worth their time bothering to try. Anyway, the match is average stuff, capped off with a Superfly Splash on Masa Fuchi for the pinfall. Nothing bad about the match, but hardly worth getting worked up about.

Greg Valentine vs Great Kabuki

Oh no. Valentine is in his "Boxcar" phase, as part of the tag team of Rhythm & Blues. I always thought how unlucky Valentine was to have gone from having one of the greatest (and most highly underrated bouts) of his career against Ronnie Garvin at the Royal Rumble in a tremendous submission match, to playing The Honky Tonk Man's sidekick in a crappy gimmicked tag team in the space of about three months. Its no wonder Greg looked bored out of his skull during the majority of the match, then. The Great Kabuki is a character I've not come across all that much in my tape collection, but suffice it to say he's the prototype for Keiji Mutoh's Great Muta character (in fact, I think there was a (worked) claim made by some promoters that Muta was Kabuki's son). This was a short match, and despite Valentine's apparent boredom, he actually assembles a decent little match. His attempts at "dancing" at least get a cheap pop out of the Japanese crowd before he gets rolled up from an attempted Figure 4 Leglock for the three. Much like the previous tag match, there was nothing particularly bad about the match, but nothing that would make me want to recommend it to anyone.

Apparently there are a couple of other bouts which should be on the tape (including Tiger Mask II v Bret Hart), but that's where my version of events cuts out. The tape is worth getting hold of to see Hogan's greatest ever match, and the sheer strangeness of seeing WWF guys working with Japanese guys, but truth be told, there's not a lot going on here, and if Hogan is outworking the rest of the WWF roster, you know you're in trouble. Thumbs down.

BattlArts 26/10/01 by Lee 'Ich, Ni, San........Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!' Flattery

Mr Sakai v Pablo Marquez

Hiroshi Hase vs Kensuke Sasaki

This was also joined in progress. Hase is 'tache-less, for a change. That might be the most interesting thing about this match, in retrospect. Hase hit a few moves, Sasaki hit a few moves, then Sasaki finished it with a Northern Lights Bomb. This was Hase's last match in New Japan as a regular, but it wasn't much of a way to bow out, with his only big moment coming with the usual Giant Swing spot. Sasaki was very mediocre here, during the mid point between his great phase in the early 90s and his great phase at the end of the 90s. Nothing to see here.

Antonio Inoki vs Vader

Hmmm. I was looking forward to this match quite a bit as it's often been pimped as a really great match by various sources. I always had my doubts on whether Inoki in his mid 50s could really produce a match of similar quality to Vader's matches with Sting, Flair and Michaels. Vader does work quite stiff with Inoki though, most notably on a sick release German Suplex when Inoki looks to have landed very hard indeed. I found it difficult to really concentrate on Vader though, since he put on the top 'vest' segment of his outfit on backwards on that night, meaning that the "Vader Time" logo was on his back throughout. Anyway, back to the match. Vader proves to be the stronger of the two (shocking, I know) by dealing out a beating to the hapless Inoki. Inoki though, has to take it to the outside and even uses a chair on Vader, which appears to open Vader's eye. Nice, if unplanned, touch. Back in the ring, Vader counters Inoki's brief flurry of offence and sets him up for first a V-Bomb (bouncing splash off the middle turnbuckle) and then a moonsault. The crowds are eating the action up with a spoon as Inoki kicks out and locks Vader in a cross arm-breaker for the climactic tap out. Great match. Well, great match for Inoki anyway, since I don't believe this encounter came anywhere near the level of Vader's aforementioned battles in the USA. Of those matches, the best comparison to make would be Vader v Flair from Starrcade 93 which worked on exactly the same principle; monster heel beats up old beloved legend until said legend uses his smarts to beat the monster. It might be the fact that I'm a big Flair fan, but I enjoyed that one a bit more than this one, although the Inoki match had a much better ending sequence. I thoroughly suggest checking this match out though, it's certainly a great showcase for Inoki's "fighting spirit" style and without doubt the best match I've ever seen him in. If you're looking for Vader at his best, well, there's a dash of it in this match, but you'd be better off looking for any Vader v Sting matches.

Random Clippage

The TV show then compiles a number of clips from the other matches on the card, namely Shinjiro Ohtani, Tokimitsu Ishizawa & Yuji Nagata vs Kenichi Yamamoto, Kazushi Sakuraba & Hiromitsu Kanehara, Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Satoshi Kojima, Masahiro Chono vs Shiro Koshinaka, Yoji Anjoh vs Hiromichi Fuyuki and Shinya Hashimoto vs Kazuo Yamazaki.

Riki Choshu vs Masahito Kakihara

This is New Japan v UWFi, with one of New Japan's heavyweight legends taking on the UWFi young lion Kakihara. I hate Riki Choshu at the best of times, so when I see him I generally get the urge to exercise my FF button. For some reason I didn't use the button this time, and had the distinct displeasure of watching Choshu squash Kakihara like a bug, while never so much changing his expression. Choshu reacted so little to his opponent and his surroundings I wondered if he'd been doped up to the eyeballs backstage. No matter. I hate Choshu anyway.

Keiji Mutoh vs Nobuhiko Takada (IWGP Title)

This was the rematch of a huge Dome sell out main event of October 1995 where New Japan's Keiji Mutoh had beaten UWFi head man Nobuhiko Takada via submission in a Figure 4 Leglock. This match was for the IWGP Title, and sold out the Dome to the tune of 64,000, an incredible achievement a mere three months after they'd done it last time. This is very much a match of two halves, the first half is all shoot-style stuff, working for takedowns, working in the guard and all that, and the second is hot, hot, hot action with near submissions a plenty. The moment the match picks up is when Mutoh hits a moonsault out of nowhere and goes for a keylock on Takada's arm. The guys work in the same Figure 4 spot that ended the match three months prior, but this time Takada can escape to the ropes, and one of the most interesting spots in the match is when Mutoh is able to counter a heel hold by Takada by basically applying another Figure 4 while lying on the canvas. Special mention should be given in this match to the crowd, who were literally rabid for the second half of the match, buying every submission attempt wholeheartedly as a potential match winning move and keeping the atmosphere red-hot. When Mutoh finally tapped out, the release of the tension is amazing, this was huge news, Takada (an outsider, no less) had the IWGP Title, and more importantly (from NJPW's business point of view), there was another potential sell-out Tokyo Dome main event with Takada defending against Shinya Hashimoto. The booking worked. Takada headlined the Dome for the third time in seven months as he dumped the belt to Hashimoto in what is regarded to be another great match.

Being only the TV show version of this card, it's quite difficult to know what to say about it since we only got two full matches and three JIP matches. Mutoh v Takada and Vader v Inoki are both great matches, and although both have their flaws, the NJ crowd are totally into them both, giving them the feel of a huge event. I would certainly recommend seeing them at least. Liger v Kanemoto was appallingly done from what I could see, but it's entirely possible that the full version would show the match in a different light, so I'll refrain from further comment. Of the rest of the card, there seemed to be practically nothing to get excited about. Still, it was promoted as a two match card, and that's exactly what we got. Worth a look.

Steve Regal Vs Shinya Hashimoto - New Japan (By John "Schumacher" Kennedy)

I'm not sure of the exact date of this match, but it takes place somewhere between 1996 and 1998 during WCW frequent forays into the Orient to work with New Japan and thankfully they allowed our boy Regal along for the ride. (I wonder if this is the trip when he pissed on an air stewardess?)
We are joined in progress as both men are struggling for position on the mat; Regal takes control by aggressively smashing his palm into Hashimoto's head and face before applying the front facelock. Thankfully this is NJPW not WCW and we are treated to a close up of the aforementioned brutality instead of the requisite "pussyvision" that WCW served up during Regal, Finlay and Benoit matches.
Anyhow, Regal attacks Fat Elvis with some bone crunching European uppercuts that are truly cringe worthy before Hash counters and starts delivering the mandatory kicks that have given many a young gajin nightmares. However Regal is no greenhorn and as Shinya is trying to cave in his chest cavity, he balls up his fists and yells for more in the least comical way imaginable. The fans are really into this as Hashimoto sells his disbelief like a pro and lays in a kick straight to the head that only gets him a two count. However the end is nigh for Lord Regal, as his last gasp "Regal Stretch" failed to make the big man say "uncle" and Hash decides to hit all the swank power moves in his arsenal, including the brainbuster and DDT for the win.
Anyhow this was a fantastic match that is full of the "carny" stiffness that you all should love and if you don't, as god is my witness you will learn to love it. Get this!

Tajiri Vs Dr Wagner Jr - Big Japan 98 (by John Kennedy)