1996 in Wrestling and MMA part 2
1996 – The year Wrestling changed again part two
So first off thanks for all the love with the first part last week – as someone that hasn’t done a project like this before the nerves did creep up at first!
This time we have some All Japan, All Japan Women, New Japan and the first half of ECW’s House Party 96…
January 2nd
All Japan at Nippon Budokan Hall (aired on TV on the seventh and fourteenth of January 1996 but for chronologic reasons will be here also the order will be in how it was aired on TV.)
Part 2
Stan Hansen/Gary Albright/Rex King vs Kawada/Taue/Ogawa kicks our first trip to Japan off and the weirdest thing about this match is that Hansen’s team contains one half of failed WWF tag team WELL DUNN in it alongside the names that you’ll all know, as for the match itself it’s always a pleasure to see Hansen, two of the four pillars and junior star Ogawa all fighting together.
Amused at one point during a 3 man beatdown on Taue how a double suplex is called a brainbuster and lovely to see Ogawa holding his own (or at least trying his hardest) against the master of the LARIAT.
Rex King pleasantly does well too even if most of his job was to get beat up to the point where I thought he’d be the one taking the pin but nope Albright hits a suplex on Ogawa for the win.
We then get the annual first show of the year battle royal which is the closest you’ll get to those shows that has everyone on the card wrestle twice in All Japan won by The Patriot (Del Wilkes edition) a year before he has a brief run in WWF.
Tamon Honda vs Bobby Duncum Jr – you’ll probably know Bobby from his sadly all too brief stint in WCW as part of the West Texas Rednecks so it was nice to see him showcasing more of his dastardly heel side as he beats up Honda until one countered bulldog and a release German by Honda prove to be his undoing.
Jun Akiyama vs The Lacrosse – pretty much the closest to a squash you’ll find here. Jun lets Lacrosse think he has the advantage but soon as the Exploder’s hit it’s done. (Lacrosse would form a team with Gary Albright and Steve Williams in the next year but would only get over as Wolf aka the character from VIRTUA FIGHTER.)
Our main event is Misawa/Kobashi/Satoru Asako vs The Patriot/Johnny Ace and The Eagle and as expected it’s a damn good main for this show as the other two pillars with Asako take on a rival of Kobashi’s in Ace, the winner of the battle royal in The Patriot and Jackie Fulton as The Eagle.
Getting to see The Patriot face off against Kobashi and Misawa is wild to me given I’ve only seen his run in late 1997 but a nice pleasant surprise nevertheless, him powerbombing Asako into a bridge pin for a near fall was sweet too.
Ace shows why All Japan was the best place for him as a wrestler – even if as a human he’s garbage man rather than Funkman.
Surprisingly THE EAGLE gets the win with a bridged German on Asako.
Next is All Japan Women taped at Korakuen Hall on the 3rd January for 21st January airdate. (My first time checking out an AJW show in fairness – although I have watched matches with Chigusa, Crush Gals, Aja Kong etc..)
Only one title match occurs on this show and it kicks us off – for the Japanese Tag Team titles it’s TakaFumi vs Kumiko Maekawa/Nobue Endo.
Really enjoyed the team of TakaFumi here and Maekawa and Endo did a tiger suplex/dropkick combo near the end that I loved, in the end the experienced TakaFumi get the win via countering a powerbomb by Maekawa into a pin.
Aja Kong/Mima Shimoda vs Etsuko Mita/Yumiko Hotta is next and for starters – Aja’s always had some class themes whether it’s Electric Eye or the one used here.
Aja goes on the warpath early by stopping a double team effort on Mima, throwing Hotta into chairs and Mita gets a table dumped on her!
Seeing Hotta and Aja face off during this was pure class too, Mita gets to be the victim of the deadly spinning backfist however this time around as Aja and Mima get the win.
We close this show with Double Inoue vs Kaoru Ito and one of THE greatest of all time Manami Toyota. If there’s one match to check out from this event it’s this one plain and simple.
(About 1 hour in!)
Highlights include Kyoko doing the giant swing on Toyota, Toyota doing a leg drop to the outside and Double Inoue getting the win with a top rope powerbomb clothesline combo.
Now to go to the Tokyo Dome where New Japan are hosting WRESTLING WORLD 96 on the 4th January…
For clarity and time we’ll be focusing on Liger vs Koji Kanemoto, Vader vs Inoki and Takada vs Mutoh.
Jushin Liger vs Koji Kanemoto is a fine example of two of the best junior heavyweights of this era squaring off - Kanemoto hitting his own Liger bomb, Liger countering a top rope suplex only to be hit as he dives off himself, the finishing sequence of three Liger bombs then Liger hitting the Stardust Press (clearly taught to him by Hayabusa…) to get the win was lovely and keep this in mind – 1996 is big for Liger in ways he didn’t anticipate but that’s for another day
Vader vs Inoki is 1. The fifth in Inoki’s Final Countdown series and 2. Vader’s last appearance in Japan until 1999 and in all honesty aside from seeing Vader be full MASTODON this isn’t really that notable aside from those three things – only seek out if you’re following the countdown to Inoki’s retirement.
We close our sojourn at the Tokyo Dome with the next chapter in New Japan vs UWF as Keiji Muto takes on Nobuhiko Takada for the IWGP Heavyweight championship and if you mostly know Takada as the General cartoon villain from HUSTLE – get ready to be surprised.
Same goes if you know Muto as the politician that dragged his career out, fucked up both knees and still had a fun last run last year before finally retiring. Although the first half of THIS match doesn’t exactly change that…
About 14 minutes in though – once Muto hits a moonsault into an armbar – it picks up as Takada goes fuck you, that’s enough as he kicks Muto, leg locks him then kicks some more until Muto hits the Dragon Screw and a FIGURE FOUR but Takada gets to the ropes, it then becomes a game of attacking the legs for both men as leg locks and dragon screw attempts are countered a few times.
Takada applies an armbar but Muto gets to the ropes, he then kicks Muto a few more times and applies an armbar for the submission win and claims the IWGP belt.
A good way to cap this visit to the Tokyo Dome but start this match about halfway…
Takada is then challenged by Koshinaka (who had beat Masahiro Chono earlier on), Hashimoto (who beat Yamazaki) and Kensuke Sasaki (who beat Hiroshi Hase) for possible future matches… while Mutoh’s doing a movie.
Oh and Vader received 40k for the Inoki match. Fair play to him. Meanwhile somewhere in Atlanta a certain Eric Bischoff is paying attention to the NJPW Vs UWF story…
Now to the house of EXTREME in Philadelphia as we enter the House Party for 1996 and the farewell of a tag team that was there from the start of Heyman’s booking in the Public Enemy as they head to Atlanta.
For any ECW event we will be using the RE-C-DUB project where applicable (which can be found on Internet Archives) because fuck WWE Network dubbing in this case Hardcore TV from 16th Jan respectively.
We begin with Stevie Richards and The Blue Meanie talking when suddenly who should show up but Dean Douglas?! Didn’t he leave just a few months ago??? Yep, as quick as he left Shane Douglas (HAHA) is back in ECW…
We then cut to Fonzie interrupting Joey Styles and complaining that there’s not enough interview time granted to him and Taz until Joey has enough, tells Fonzie to quit ruining the party and starts to square up (hey the man took out Bradshaw with one punch…) when Taz grabs Joey and threatens him in the corner.
Cue Frankenstein as 911 comes out to confront Taz and Fonzie, Fonzie gets some pathetic shots in that fail to do anything and Tod Gordon gets in the ring to take Fonzie down but as sudden as it starts, Taz finishes it and the pull apart between him and 911 occurs, the crowd shouting LET THEM GO (and Bad Crew sucks dick for some reason – because ECW.) Taz then destroys Pablo Marquez and when Joey steps in to try and stop it all, Taz is about to make good on his threat when 911 returns and another staredown occurs.
Until The Eliminators and Taz do a beatdown on 911 and hit Total Elimination when Rey Mysterio Jr (as he is known in 1996) tries to make the save and initially fails but bounces back after both Eliminators miss moonsaults leading to Rey doing one off the ropes in the ring and one to the floor!
Keep in mind all of THAT was to lead to the first match!
A decent tag match if you realise Eliminators and Rey are doing the brunt of the work that leads to Taz choking out 911 with a shirt..
ECW is fun and very frustrating in equal measure as you’ll come to realise in 1996 because the match STILL continues after all of this!
In the end 911 and Rey win after Rey does a rana off 911’s shoulders onto Kronus whose on Saturn’s shoulders.
Eliminators being sore losers beat down Rey and 911 until The Pitbulls attack to make the save.
Big brawl time happens with EVERYONE including Jason and Francine until she gets hit with Total Elimination (again – because ECW where everyone gets hit at some point.)
At long last – that’s the first match over with.
That took TWENTY MINUTES altogether and is your first 1996 example of the cram everything in mentality ECW has. Sometimes it works (like Gangsta’s Paradise’s main event and the Hammerstein Ballroom in 2000 when ECW gets ‘cancelled’) and sometimes it feels overcooked like here.
We finally move on to talking about Shane Douglas’ return to ECW after being a crusty, bitter old Dean (and Joey takes a shot at how he was given the IC title for about 20 minutes in late 1995) and brief talk about Jimmy Del Abuser (Remember why he was fired from WWF.) showing up for some bullshit with Buh Buh Ray Dudley and Mr Hughes.
Thankfully Shane returns and ends this while the crowd chant Dean is Dead and he proclaims the Franchise IS BACK.
Honestly we just needed the last bit here – I did not need the shite that is Jimmy Del Abuser and pre D-Von showing up Buh Buh on my screen
Thankfully Mikey Whipwreck and 2 Cold Scorpio for Mikey’s TV title is MUCH better, just a shame we only get highlights where 2 Cold gets the win after Raven DDTs Mikey.
We end the first half with one of THE moments for ECW in 1996 – Stevie declaring himself as STUDLY Stevie after his kiss with Missy Hyatt at Holiday Hell 95 and now wanting to continue his ‘charm on the ladies’ by getting one off Beulah – something that she wants no part of, Stevie then becomes the 1996 equivalent of an incel by whining about ‘oh it’s because you’re Raven’s girlfriend?’ Beulah then proclaims she’s pregnant as Raven runs down to beat the shit out of Stevie thinking he’s the father after being told he isn’t and throws in some misogyny by saying to Beulah ‘The pills say one day at a time moron.’
Beulah then proclaims that it’s not Stevie… but TOMMY DREAMER that’s the father. As Raven goes to attack Beulah, Tommy makes the save and hits Raven with a chair a few times before using a sign that has a Stop sign concealed inside it and hitting him over the head with it followed by a DDT and to top it all off a piledriver onto a pie before embracing Beulah.
This kicks off an angle that gets ECW a lot of publicity for better or worse over the next few months although I’ve always wondered one major plot hole – when did Tommy and Beulah potentially hook up – after Holiday Hell or November to Remember? Never gets bought up I believe!
We then have Tommy essentially bragging on how he’s one upped Raven and Beulah saying to Tommy how she wants to ‘feel your pain.’ Tommy then orders the cameraman to leave because… well you know.
And with that we come to the end of Part 2… next time – the second half of House Party 96 plus some USWA and the 8th January Raw and Nitros!