IWA Japan Glass Grave Yard, 1994.10.16
After a disappointing first IWA Japan show watch I had considered quitting. That is until I read the card for the next show I had access too. As you can tell by the fact you are reading this, it is a very cool lineup. It’s what I wanted from looking at these shows, surprising people on the cards with insane death matches in the main event. This time the main event is a “Barbed-Wire Boards Glass Window Crush Death Match.” Let’s go!
They are back in Korakuen Hall with over two thousand people again.
Before the first match we get some music and the set up of the death match! Then a promo by someone.
Gran Apache vs Yoshihiro Tajiri
This was a perfect WCW Cruiserweight opener match. Tajiri is a bit young here, but Apache is a veteran luchador. They did some amazing matwork to start, some great dives later on, had some good nearfalls, leading to a hot finish. Everything you could had wanted in this match. On top of that, Apache threw two all-time awesome stiff jabs! Apache won with some kind of fun roll up in about ten minutes. We are off to a great start!
Johnny Gomez vs Yoshihiko Abe
Joe Gomez is back and this time he is facing a karate dude in full karate garb, but no page on cagematch.
After a promising start of Gomez dodging kicks and then hitting a nice superkick to mock the karate dude, this fell apart. 1992 Joe Gomez had to be lead a karate dude through a pro-wrestling match and that is not a fun idea. Gomez won with a STF.
Gran Apache vs Takashi Okano
I have no idea why Gran Apache has to work twice tonight, but he’s taking on Okano. This is Winger from the previous show, unmasked.
This is similar to the Tajiri match, although Apache worked a LOT stiffer here. His submissions were snug and his lariats were vicious. The jabs returned too! One highlight was Okano’s springboard plancha that had him eat chairs on the landing as he overshot by a lot. Some fun nearfalls lead to Okano pulling off the win with some kind of pinning maneuver. Solid stuff, but 17 minutes was too long for this.
“Barbed-Wire Baseball Bat Match”
Crash The Terminator vs Leatherface
Seeing a crowd be absolutely in love with a serial killer with a chainsaw who is chasing them is a sight to see! This had a lot of improvements over the last barbed-wire baseball bat match. First, they both started outside the ring so it was more fair. Second, they used the bat a LOT more. Weirdly, they did more backstage brawling like the last time. In fact, they had two separate segments backstage.
There was blood and it was wildly chaotic. Everything you could had hoped for. Leatherface won after hitting a flying double axhandle with the bat and then the lamest flying forearm off the top.
Tag Team League Block B Match:
Brian Christopher & The Dark Patriot
vs
Dick Slater & Nobutaka Araya
We hear from the two teams pre-match for the first pre-taped promos of the show. Yeah, the first talking is Brian Christopher and a masked Doug Gilbert. IWA Japan is weird. This tournament is to determine the IWA World Tag Team Champions.
This was a pretty decent southern tag team match. Everyone knew what they were doing and this format of match will always be good. Araya won with a moonsault. One weird part was Araya doing three straight German Suplexes, but he kept messing up the bridge. He then went for a power bomb and it looked good, but it only got two. I was totally convinced he fucked up the German Suplex finish and had to improvise, but I am a fool.
Barbed-Wire Boards & Glass Crushing Death Match:
The Headhunters
vs
Hiroshi Ono & Shoji Nakamaki
The Headhunters cut a promo in the stairwell, while Ono & Nakamaki cut a promo outside. I really need hours of footage of death match set ups. It’s kind of relaxing.
This match starts with one Headhunter jumping Ono and Nakamaki throwing a fireball at the other Headhunter.
The premise here is the ring is surrounded with alternating giant rectangle buckets of broken glass in water and barbed-wire boards. Let’s touch on a flaw right away, the cameras had no idea how to cover this. Which sucks, because we saw wild stuff like taking the glass out of the box and scraping the dude’s head up with it. The first half of the match broke into two singles matches and you’d be watching one, only for them to cut to the other and they would be all bloody. Makes you wonder what you missed.
We get a nice segment of straight up tag wrestling, which The Headhunters excel at. They have vicious offense and the crowd really got behind Ono. This lead to the finishing sequence, where one of The Headhunters would drag someone to the floor and do some vicious stuff with barbed-wire. The finish is pictured below, a 400 pound moonsault to a dude sandwiched between barbed-wire boards! Yikes!
Post match The Headhunters feel like they haven’t done enough damage, so they toss a dude into the bucket of glass! The show ends with him being stretchered out and a promo.
Final Thoughts
This is everything I want in a IWA Japan show and why I wanted to start watching these. Some good wrestling, some wrestlers from all over the world you would not expect, and some insane death match stuff. Great stuff.
If you think I am done, well the next show has Terry Funk and fire, so I am not.
IWA Japan thoughts? Hit me up on twitter and let me know.
You can also join the discord to enjoy weekly weekend joshi and Greatest Wrestler Ever watch parties.
1993 Match of the Year List
We are fast approaching my greatest wrestlers of 1993 list, so let’s drop the match of the year list first!
After just finishing watching almost all of 1993 joshi, this list may be a little joshi heavy. Rightly so, though, as 1993 was the year of the inter promotional wars and maybe the best run of any style of wrestling ever.
The honourable mentions are the remaining 8.75/10 rated matches I have seen that just didn’t make the cut. They really could be interchanged into the bottom of this list.
Honourable Mentions
- Aja Kong & Bull Nakano vs Kyoko Inoue & Manami Toyota – AJW, May 3
- Combat Toyota & Megumi Kudo vs Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada – FMW, May 5
- Harley Saito vs Takako Inoue – AJW, May 8
- Akira Hokuto vs Yumiko Hotta – AJW Japan Grand Prix, August 21
- Bull Nakano vs Noriyo Tateno – AJW & LLPW, September 29
- Manami Toyota vs Mayumi Ozaki – AJW WresleMarinpiad, October 9
- Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa vs Kyoko Inoue & Toshiyo Yamada – AJW, October 10
- Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada – AJW St. Battle Final, December 6
Final Note
This list is based off of matches I have watched in the last few months and based off of my own personal biases. Take everything with all of the salt.
#25
Bull Nakano & Takako Inoue vs Shinobu Kandori & Utako Hozmu
LLPW, November 9
#24
Akira Hokuto vs Toshiyo Yamada
AJW, May 3
#23
Devil Masami vs Kyoko Inoue
AJW WrestleMarinepiad, October 9
A very cool battle of different generations. The mix of Devil’s size and power offense with Kyoko’s weird offense was wonderful to see. One of my favourite version of Kyoko’s “Giant Swing” happened here. It all ends with a beautiful finish.
#22
Barry Windham vs Too Cold Scorpio
WCW Clash of the Champions, June 16
#21
Akira Hokuto, Etsuko Mita, & Mima Shimoda
vs
Eagle Sawai, Harley Saito, & Miki Handa
AJW, January 24
#20
Sting vs Vader
“Strap” WCW SuperBrawl III, February 21
#19
Akira Hokuto vs Rumi Kazama
“Hair vs Hair” LLPW, November 9
#18
Akira Hokuto vs Yasha Kurenai
AJW, June 11
I talked about this here.
#17
Pirata Morgan vs El Satanico
“Hair vs Hair” AAA Sin Limite, November 26
A bloody violent hair vs hair match which was an all-time great brawl. Filled with so many brilliant minor touches. The nearfalls were super dramatic as the third fall is unreal.
#16
Akira Hokuto vs Aja Kong
AJW WrestleMarinepiad, October 9
#15
Bolshoi Kid, Cutie Suzuki, & Plum Mariko
vs
Kyoko Inoue, Takako Inoue, & Yumiko Hotta
AJW All-Star Dream Slam 2, April 11
#14
Aja Kong vs Megumi Kudo
AJW St. Battle Final, December 6
Megumi Kudo comes in from FMW and doesn’t go for a barbed wire to defeat Kong, but puts up the fight of her life to really establish herself as a legit #1 contender.
#13
Akira Hokuto vs Manami Toyota
AJW, August 21
#12
Bret Hart vs Mr. Perfect
“Semi-Final” WWF King of The Ring, June 13
#11
Stan Hansen vs Toshiaki Kawada
AJPW Excite Series, February 28
#10
Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue vs Eagle Sawai & Leo Kitamura
LLPW
June 15
Leo Kitamura is a wrestler I have never even heard of until I started watching all of joshi and here she is in the top 10 matches of the year. That’s how great the Aja Kong and partner vs Eagle Sawai and partner feud was in 1993. This is a match of contrasts as the brutes of Kong and Eagle try to destroy each other, while the face painted Kyoko Inoue and Kitamura do weird shit around them. An unbelievable and surprising match you must watch.
#9
Kenta Kobashi vs Stan Hansen
AJPW Summer Action Series
July 29
Kenta Kobashi’s selling is a perfect contrast to the bruising Stan Hansen. This match has been talked about to death and has maybe the greatest finish in wrestling history.
#8
Cutie Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue
AJW All-Star Dream Slam
April 2
The two Dream Slam shows are just filled with classic matches and this one may have the most exciting nearfalls and finishing sequence of them all. The heel Ozaki adds the dynamic and I can’t not mention the amazing giant swing Kyoko does here!
#7
Atsushi Onita vs Terry Funk
“No Rope Exploding Barbed-Wire Time Bomb Death Match”
FMW 4th Anniversary Show
May 5
You know 1993 is a classic year when this match doesn’t even hit the top 5. One of the most dramatic matches and one of, if not, the best deathmatch of all-time. Even if you don’t like deathmatches, like myself, this match transcends that.
#6
Akira Hokuto vs Shinobu Kandori
AJW St. Battle Final
December 6
The rematch to a match higher on the list and it’s really great on it’s own right. Some claim it is better, but the finish is not 100% perfect, compared to the previous mach.
#5
Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki
vs
Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada
“WWWA Tag Team Titles – 2/3 Falls”
AJW All-Star Dream Slam 2
April 11
This is the most exciting high action spot oriented match in wrestling history. Add to that the bad ass Kansai and the utter heelness of Ozaki and you are in for a giant treat. This is a match that really set up future generations of wrestling like the Omega’s and the Okada’s.
#4
Bull Nakano vs Devil Masami
JWP
April 18
I talked about this one here.
#3
Aja Kong & Akira Hokuto vs Eagle Sawai & Shinobu Kandori
AJW All-Star Dream Slam 2
April 11
This was the most shocking discovery of the joshi chronological watch we are doing on the discord. This match is NEVER talked about, it has no rating from Dave Meltzer, and the usual sights don’t have threads for it. That is bizarre, because this rules so hard.
We have the continuation of the Hokuto and Kandori feud, but with the adding addition of the beginning of the Eagle Sawai and Aja Kong feud, which also is awesome. Kong is at her best in huge tag matches and this may be the best performance of her career up until this point. The other take away is that Eagle Sawai is a great wrestler and this was a huge wake up party for me. Hate, drama, and excitement. Watch this!
#2
Aja Kong, Kyoko Inoue, Sakie Hasegawa, & Takako Inoue
vs
Cuty Suzuki, Dynamite Kansai, Hikari Fukuoka, & Mayumi Ozaki
“60 Minute Iron Woman First Attack”
JWP Thunder Queen Battle In Yokohama
July 31
The joshi inter promotional wars of the 1990s is the greatest thing in wrestling history and this is one of the highlights. A 60 minute Iron woman match with Team AJW vs Team JWP. There is a lot of great stories and highlights in this 60 minutes. I normally would never recommend a match this long, but with the rules as they are and the team aspect it never drags. An all-time classic.
#1
Akira Hokuto vs Shinbu Kandori
AJW All-Star Dream Slam
April 2
The greatest match in the history of pro-wrestling, so of course it is number one. If you have not seen it, watch it now. If you have seen it, you do not need me to say anything. Most obvious match of the year ever.
What did you think of this list? Hit me up on twitter and let me know.
You can also join the discord to join along with weekly weekend joshi and Greatest Wrestler Ever watch parties.
Next time I will drop my greatest wrestlers of 1993 list.
IWA Japan Opening Stage Battle States, 1994.05.23
I’m not usually a deathmatch fan, but there is something about scrolling through IWA Japan cards that is fascinating. It’s filled with horror movie gimmicks and wrestlers from all over the world and gender spectrum. Plus the ridiculous gimmick matches. I’ve always wanted to dive in, even though I’ve only seen the famous “King of the Deathmatch” show and a handful of other matches. Let’s give their debut show a try.
They drew over 2,000 people at Korakuen Hall which is great for a debut show!
Johnny Gomez vs Hiroshi Ono
Ono I think is a deathmatch dude, but Gomez I never heard of before. Research says it’s Joe Gomez, but boy did he progress a lot in 2 years. He cuts one of the worst promos I have ever heard in my life, so very nervous with baby uttered every sentence like a tick. They should had given him another take. Ono also seems nervous, but I have no idea what he said.
We get a ceremony with all the wrestlers wearing sashes before one, that is nice.
The match is an okay opener actually. It’s not good or anything, but it’s not super boring or really botched. Although Gomez gave one of the weirdest DDTs I have ever seen. The finish kind of rules where Gomez is going for a missile dropkick, I think, but instead just kind of does a standing double foot stomp to Ono’s chest which drives him into the mat. They played “Too Legit to Quit” as Gomez celebrates. This show is something already now.
Miguel Perez Jr. & The Winger vs Crash the Terminator & El Oriental
Miguel Perez Jr. is a Los Boricua from the WWF and from Puerto Rico, The Winger is a deathmatch Japan dude doing a lucha gimmick, Crash the Terminator is Hugh Morrus, and El Oriental is a Mexican luchador. What an odd collection of people.
More promos, and they are not ideal.
After a few seconds of lucha, Tiger Jeet Singh appeared in the crowd. IWA Japan did this gimmick years before NXT existed.
This was way too long for what it was, but nothing was bad. The luchadores against each other were okay and anytime Miguel was in there he was damn good. He kicked off a dive train with a pretty Asai moonsault before he destroyed Oriental for the win.
After skipping the next match we get to the first deathmatch situation.
Barbed Wire Baseball Bat Match
Yukihiro Kanemaru vs Shoji Nakamaki
Before the match starts Tiger Jeet Singh wants at Kanemaru, but his friend keeps trying to stop him. Kanemaru is in the ring with the bat and Nakamaki has to enter to face him. What a ridiculously unfair beginning.
Soon the bat is abandoned and they brawl backstage with fans chanting and chasing after, which was a cool visual. From there we get some really fun crowd brawl and some okay inside the ring brawling. I think they used chairs more than the bat. The finish was a piledriver by Kanemaru onto the guardrail, no baseball bat in sight. It was a fun match though.
The post match was some chaotic fun. Kanemaru tries to murder Nakamaki with a chair, then he destroys the referee plus some jobbers who tried to stop him. “The Danger Zone” plays over the speakers and then paused as he cuts a 15 second promo, before resuming! In that time Nakamaki has recovered and him and Winger fight off Kanemaru, which brings out Miguel to help Kanemaru. A fun angle.
Silver King vs El Texano
These two luchadores who have travelled the world together as a team collide here! It turned out pretty good. They work a solid lucha match. Nothing you need to go out of your way to see, but you shouldn’t skip it either.
Misterioso & Nobutaka Araya vs. The Headhunters
Main event time and this is a lineup. Misterioso is another luchador, Araya is a Tenryu trainee or something and The Headhunters RULE!
Araya had a few cool spots, but smartly stayed out of the way the rest of the match which turned into a super fun spot fest. Misterioso had some amazing dives and worked really well with the Headhunters! The Headhunters were feeling it too, including one of them hitting a cannonball topé and also hitting a moonsault. If you don’t know The Headhunters are short and like 400 pounds! This match I recommend, 7/10.
fake dive, lariat to back of head
misterioso’s action, flipped onto headhunters
headhunter cannonball dive!
headhunter tried to roll away but was too large and still gets moonsaulted
MOONSUALT, 7/10
Araya closes the show out with a promo.
Final Thoughts
When I think of IWA Japan I do not think of a show like this, but it was a start. The mix of a lot of lucha and Puerto Rico does really help the promotion. I may continue on or check out W*NG or something in the future.
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