Sadly, event cancellations have continued to affect the NJPW calendar, but there are still countless matches to explore in the NJPW World archives, with many more being added under the NJPW Together project! Let us be your guide to some of the best matches from this week in history:
March 8, 1997: International Strong Style
Shinya Hashimoto, Kensuke Sasaki, The Barbarian and Meng. Four names that would strike fear into any wrestler in the 1990s faced off in the same ring this week in 1997.
Having won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship the prior April in the Tokyo Dome from Nobuhiko Takada, Hashimoto was closing in on a year into what would become a then record 489 day reign. The question of just who could stop the ‘King of Destruction’ was being raised; in actual fact it would be his partner this March night, Sasaki who would take the title in August on the back of a G1 Climax victory.
WCW’s Faces of Fear certainly represented fearsome competition however. This was Meng and the Barbarian’s first tour of NJPW in four years after a brief run in 1993, and the then Prince Tonga’s formative years in All Japan Pro Wrestling in the early 1980s. He and the Barbarian were undoubtedly two of the toughest human beings anywhere in the world, and looked to make a mark in NJPW against top flight competition, in much the same way that decades removed, Meng’s sons in the Guerrillas of Destiny would.
March 9 2003: Monster Justice
Six years after Shinya Hashimoto’s record setting IWGP Heavyweight Championship reign, Yuji Nagata was in the midst of his own dominant run that put him in the record books. Between April 2002 and May 2003, Nagata would hold the IWGP gold and rack up a record ten defence reign.
That V10 streak would be one more than Shinya Hashimoto’s third reign in 1994-1995. Hashimoto’s dominant reign would eventually come to an end at the hands of his Doj and Three Musketeers contemporary, Keiji Muto. When Nagata sought to draw level with Hashimoto then, on defence number nine, it was appropos that the man opposite would be Manabu Nakanishi.
Nagata and Nakanishi’s paths to stardom met when both were teenagers in amateur ranks. Both had debuted mere days apart in 1992, and now both were in the main event for the IWGP heavyweight Championship. After coming close to the top flight in 1999 after winning the G1 Climax, Nakanishi was not going to take things easy on his best friend something that he showed with a dominant performance that saw the Yajin do everything within the 60 minute time limit but pin or submit Nagata.
March 11, 2018: The Ring’s That Way, Kota
The New Japan Cup has often seen wrestlers fight out of their shells and have breakthrough campaigns that instantly shoot them to a higher status. 2019 saw Taichi looked at in a whole new light, as we shall see, and 2018 made Zack Sabre Junior into a top flight name with his debut victory.
Going into the cup however, a lot of eyes were on YOSHI-HASHI, whose heart and determination made a dark horse contender. He had a tough draw in the first round against Kota Ibushi, but victory for the Golden Star was by no means a certainty. Ibushi himself meanwhile was determined to make 2018 his year, wrestling his first full year back in NJPW after returning to the cerulean blue in 2017. He sought to put a huge stamp on the tournament, and pulled out absolutely every single stop; even if it meant going very high risk indeed.
March 12, 2004: They’re Hot! They’re Spicy! They Taste Great!
With Karl Fredericks, Alex Coughlin, Clark Connors and Gabriel Kidd gaining attention by the day, it’s no wonder that NJPW’s LA Dojo is regarded as one of the best training facilities in the world for prospective professional wrestlers. The same was the case of the original LA Dojo back in the mid 2000s, producing stars like Rocky Romero, Karl Anderson, Prince Devitt, and wrestling in Yoyogi 16 years ago this week, Bryan Danielson.
The American Dragon was making major waves all around the world in 2004, and had a unique tag team partner with him. The enigmatic ‘hot, spicy and great tasting’ Curry Man made his first appearance in the 2002 Best of the Super Juniors tournament; although he would only manage a pair of wins in his block, fans took notice of his undeniable charisma and dynamic ring style that was unique and yet oddly familiar all at once.
Earlier in February Curry Man had his highest profile singles bout to date, but even his fiery spice was unable to overcome IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Heat. The curry would be brought back to the boil by Danielson, and the two reset, going after IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Jado and Gedo. After starting their second reign with the titles by defeating the young team of Ryusuke Taguchi and Hirooki Goto in November, the World Class Tag Team had an impressive pair of defences with tough competition in the form of Heat and Tiger Mask, and Jyushin Thunder Liger and Koji Kanemoto. The Curry and the Dragon would have their backs to the wall, but would bring all the fire they could to take the gold.
March 13, 2019: Dangerous T
‘Taichi go home’ had been the rallying cry for years for fans, as the self professed ‘Holy Emperor’ bullied the junior heavyweight division, antagonising every single one of his opponents, only to bail from the ring and seek any way of avoiding confrontation when things got rough. After transitioning to heavyweight however, things began to change, as ‘Taichi go home’ chants would be followed by a small but growing riposte of ‘let’s go Taichi’. It was his New Japan Cup 2019 match with Tomohiro Ishii however, that made those ‘let’s go Taichi’ chants not just the catchphrase of the contrarian, but an unironic encouragement.
Taichi trained by All Japan Pro Wrestling stalwart and notorious tough man Toshiaki Kawada, would move to NJPW in 2008, the midst of challenging times for New Japan. Taichi would later declare that his move made him one of the ‘four black saints’ who took the chance to move to NJPW during the difficult period, joined in those ranks by Milano Collection A.T., Tomoaki Honma and, his Cup opponent here, Tomohiro Ishii.
Taichi would claim that he never got the crowd respect and admiration he deserved, while Ishii would maintain that he had to fight and scrape to be in the position he reached. That resulted in a series of intense bouts between the two, the first coming here in Okayama.
