https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAceUUApF_c
Wellington Wilkins Jr. vs. Katsumi Hirano
Hirano is a low level guy who likes to play shooter, and he is almost
completely useless. Wilkins Jr. though gets an entertaining match out of
him by eating him up completely. Wilkins looked like the total package
here roughing up Hirano with submissions, cool suplexes and judo throws
aswell as those nasty ground headbutts he does. The sole moment where
Hirano gets to do something is when Wilkins temporarily loses balance
allowing Hirano to lock in a lucky submission, which doesn't last long
as Wilkins soon taps him out with a basic side headlock.
Akihiro Mikada vs. Nobutaka Araya
I liked this more on rewatch. It's a slow paced match with a lot of
holds, but there was some escalation to the holds, Mikada would try the
same hold twice and Araya would reverse in cool fashion. Mikada
peppering Araya with stiff kicks was a lot of fun. Match went a little
too long for their own good and pro style Araya didn't show me as much
at this stage, but this was solid enough for rookie undercard action.
Brian Lee vs. Masahiko Takasugi
The next bout was veteran Takasugi vs. An ultra generic blonde Brian Lee. Takasugi was still pretty spry and they worked an IWE type match with Lee roughing up his opponent and then Takasugi fighting fire with fire. Basic stuff again, and they ended the match just as it seemed to get hot.
Yukihiro Kanemura & Masayoshi Motegi vs.Kazuhiko Matsuzaki & Hiroshi Itakura
Fun juniors match with some piss and vinegar. I really liked Matsuzaki
here, who was cracking everyone with hard headbutts and kicks, aswell as
Itakura who can do both slick junior flips aswell as spin kick someone
in the throat. I liked the flaring tempers, the dive sequence and the
finish. I thought Kanemura went to the well too often with his STF. That
was a hot move in 1992 and while it initially increased the tension, by
the 3rd time he locked the move in it was reduced to a resthold. Bad
psychology.
Ryuma Go & Jesse Barr vs. Ron & Don Harris (Texas Deathmatch in a cage~!)
Good clobbering brawl with lots of blood. This kind of match would look really good-great in front of a hot US crowd but with this kind of subdued japanese crowd the whole thing felt a little dry, despite plenty of juice and fire. I liked how the crowd got into Jesse's toughness as he absorbed all of the Harris Bros high end tag team offense and the finish was a fun outsmarting the rules moment.
