Burning Hammer Tape Review #24

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NJPW: Collision In Korea 1995
April 28-29, 1995

--NJPW stands for New Japan Pro Wrestling, one of the biggest wrestling promotions in Japan and the whole world. This was a peace festival done in North Korea that took place over two days, but this version is the WCW PPV version which didn't use the whole event, but only used certain matches taken from the two days.

--Taped from Pyongyang, North Korea

--Your hosts are Eric Bischoff, Mike Tenay, & Kazua Ishikawa

--Flyin' Scorpio V. Wild Pegasus. Scorpio is the future Flash Funk, and he's otherwise been known as 2 Cold Scorpio for most of his career. Wild Pegasus is everyone's favorite Canadian, Chris Benoit. Scorpio hits a nice Moonsault Bodyblock for a 2 count. Tombstone Piledriver by Pegasus and he follows that up with a Kamikaze Headbutt for the pin at 6:02. ** Some decent stuff, but considering the participants it could have been better.

--Tokimitsu Ishizawa V. Yuji Nagata. Ishizawa would go on to be known as the world's most boring cruiserweight, Kendo Ka Shin. Nagata hits a Capture Exploder Suplex out of nowhere and locks in a Crossface for the submission win at 4:27. * Some nice basics, but that's about it.

--Masahiro Chono, Hiro Saito V. El Samurai, Tadao Yasuda. Chono gets the pin on Yasuda at 8:06 with a Shoulderblock off the top-rope. 3/4* Paint by numbers match, with Yasuda stinking up the ring as usual.

--Manami Toyota, Mariko Yoshida V. Bull Nakano, Akira Hokuto. Some people may remember Nakano & Hokuto from their brief stints in WWF & WCW, while others may remember Hokuto for being quite possibly the greatest female wrestler ever. Nakano uses her SWEET~ Double-Arm Chickenwing Sharpshooter on Yoshida. Superplex by Hokuto on Yoshida gets 2. Nakano pastes Toyota with a vicious Powerbomb. Moonsault Press by Toyota on Hokuto gets 2. German Suplex Hold by Hokuto on Yoshida gets 2. Nakano gets the pin on Yoshida at 8:34 with a Guillotine Legdrop. **1/2 Some nice action, but once again, considering how good the women involved are this match was disappointing and had far too many botches.

--Scott Norton V. Shinya Hashimoto. Match is a time-limit draw at 20:00. 1/2* Extremely tedious, and extremely boring match. Neither man appeared to be in working mode at all, and when they did do any work revolving around the basic concepts of selling or psychology they would forget all about it a second later.

--Tadao Yasuda V. Hawk Warrior. Warrior is the Legion Of Doom and Road Warrior Hawk. Warrior gets the pin at 2:21 with a Clothesline off the top-rope. DUD Yasuda sucks, Warrior sucks, and this match sucked.

--Steiner Brothers V. Hiroshi Hase, Kensuke Sasaki. Steiners are real life brothers Rick & Scott, and some of you might remember Sasaki from when he was in WCW. Hase hits a Roundhouse Kick on Scott, and follows it up with a nice Dropkick, but Scott cuts off that rally with an Exploder Suplex on Hase. Sasaki hits a nasty German Suplex on Rick, but Rick catches him coming off the top-rope for a Double Axehandle and turns it into an Overhead Belly-To-Belly Suplex. SWEET~ Spinning Belly-To-Belly Suplex by Scott on Sasaki gets 2. Rick hits a Shuttle Loop Buster (German Suplex where the victim is turned inside-out and lands on their stomach) on Hase, but Sasaki breaks up the count at 2. STF by Scott on Hase, but he makes the ropes to break. Rock Bottom by Hase on Rick allows him to finally tag in Sasaki. Hase & Sasaki hit a SWANK~ Backdrop Driver/Neckbreaker Drop off the top-rope combo move. Rick German Suplexes Hase on his head, and Scott follows that up with a Steiner Squaredriver, which the camera misses, for the pin on Hase at 11:48. *** Some good action, with a lot of nasty bumps, but it took a while to get going.

--Ric Flair V. Antonio Inoki. Some nice mat wrestling leads to Inoki bailing to the outside, and Flair brings him back into the ring with a Delayed Vertical Suplex off the apron for a 2 count. Kneebreaker by Flair, and he applies an STF, but he breaks the hold to work on Inoki's knee some more. Another Kneebreaker by Flair, and this time he applies the Figure Four Leglock, but eventually Inoki is able to break the hold. Inoki completely whiffs on a Dropkick, but he still gets a 2 count from it. Inoki gets the pin at 14:52 with an Enzuguri. **1/2 Decent match, but I could have done without Inoki totally forgetting about his injured knee late in the match.

--Final Flash: This was a historic event, drawing crowds of 170,000 & 150,000 on the two days that it was held, but it's certainly not historic for the wrestling, it wasn't very good.

Not Recommended

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