WWF at Nagoya Rainbow Hall (May 8, 1994)

Original Airdate: May 8, 1994

From Nagoya, Japan

Opening Match: Samu v Nobukazu Hirai: Interesting ring tonight, with a greenish mat, black elevator cable style ropes, and red/blue ringposts. But still with WWF branded turnbuckles. I guess those were easier to pack. I mean, business was rough during this period… I just assume the workers were lugging the ring around in their carry ons. No? Feeling out process to start, with both guys playing babyfaces, and giving handshakes along the way. Samu manages a cross corner whip to set up an avalanche, but a second corner whip backfires when Hirai rebounds with a clothesline, then adds a dropkick. Hirai with an armdrag into an armbar, but Samu fights to a vertical base, and knocks Hirai to the outside with a standing dropkick. Hirai snaps his throat across the top rope on the way back in, and he smacks Samu with a backelbow to set up an elbowdrop for one. Backdrop, but Samu counters into a cradle for two (in an awkward looking spot), so Hirai dropkicks him over the top, and dives with a plancha! Hirai with a cross corner whip on the way back inside, but the charge gets blocked with a superkick, and Samu delivers a 2nd rope DDT for the pin at 5:14. This was a fine little match, with Samu working a lot different (and better) than his stuff in the States. Too bad this was only five minutes long, it ended just as it was finding another gear. **

1-2-3 Kid v Jinsei Shinzaki: Shinzaki would later be known as Hakushi in the WWF, and he’s got that look going here. Shinzaki stalls to start, but wins a nice criss cross by superkicking Kid out of the ring. Back in for another criss cross, again won by Shinzaki with a press-slam. Cross corner whip sets up a corner splash, but a second one misses, and Kid knocks him out of the ring with a series of strikes. Kid tries dragging him in, but Shinzaki fights him off with a ropewalk tomahawk chop, and another chop knocks Kid to the outside - Shinzaki on him with a plancha. Shinzaki tries a dive on the way back in, but Kid dropkicks him down to the floor, then dives with a flying somersault senton out there. Kid whips him into the guardrail for good measure, and a snapmare sets up a lightning legdrop for two on the way back in. Crossface chickenwing into a cross-armbreaker keeps Shinzaki grounded, but Jinsei slugs free. Kid responds with a spinkick, and a series of strikes soften Shinzaki up for a dive. Kid tries another spinkick, but gets caught in a suplex for two, and Shinzaki drills him with a powerbomb for two. Shinzaki goes up with a flying shoulderblock, but Kid dodges, and hooks a victory roll for two - reversed by Shinzaki for two. Kid with a bridging northern lights suplex for two, but a trip to the top gets him crotched, and Shinzaki follows. Superplex, but Kid blocks, and he drops him with a tornado DDT for two. Shinzaki kicked out, but he’s loopy, and Kid picks him up for a bridging German suplex to put it away at 9:07. Hell of a match here, significantly better than the one they opened SummerSlam with the following year. *** ½ 

Fatu v Tatanka: Tatanka with a shoulderblock for two right away, so Fatu gets in his face, and they shove each other… before remembering that they are both babyfaces, and taking chill pills. I’m allowed to use that expression, it’s 1994, it’s still relevant. Tatanka tries a facebuster, but Fatu no-sells, and they get in each other’s faces again. Maybe Tatanka should try telling him that his father says to sell? I’ve heard that works sometimes. Fatu stalls for a while, and Tatanka grabs a wristlock once he comes back inside. Tatanka with an overhead armdrag and a dropkick, then an armdrag into an armbar to ground the tag champion. Fatu fights to a vertical base and tries a hiptoss, but Tatanka reverses, and armdrags him into another armbar. Fatu escapes and delivers a backbreaker for two, and a clothesline sets up a headbutt drop for two. Chinlock, until Tatanka fights to a vertical base, and hooks an inside cradle for two. DDT gets no-sold, however, and Fatu superkicks him. Tatanka, bless him, sells it despite it missing by a foot, and even gives him a two count out of it. Considering Fatu just no-sold him for the second time, that’s especially generous of him. Fatu goes upstairs, but Tatanka knocks him off before he can dive, and Tatanka goes up with a flying bodypress at 9:55. This was much more the speed of your average WWF house show than the other stuff so far tonight. Oddly, they don’t do any kind of babyface mutual respect deal after the match, with Tatanka actually storming off immediately after the bell. *

The Smoking Gunns v Owen Hart and Doink the Clown: Is Doink a heel here, or is Owen a babyface? It actually seems that Doink is playing a babyface, and Owen is playing a heel, despite teaming. What a random deal. Bart Gunn starts with Owen, and Hart takes him down in a waistlock to dominate on the mat a bit. Bart reverses a second waistlock, but Owen counters to a hammerlock, and Bart reverses that into a takedown. They fight for position on the mat, and Bart actually gets the better of it, leaving Owen to use the ropes to force a break. Bart grabs a wristlock, but Owen reverses, so Bart fights him off. Armdrag, so a frustrated Owen shoves him, but Bart stays focused with a drop-toehold. Dropkick and another armdrag leave Owen ready to tag, and Bart makes one as well. Criss cross ends in Doink reversing a hiptoss from Billy Gunn, and a bodyslam follows for two. Doink then ruins it by doing a stupid comedy bit with the referee, since he thinks he’s in the States, apparently. Luckily, Owen is good at geography, and takes a cheap shot to put Billy down, then forces a tag in to put the boots to him. Bodyslam sets up a kneedrop, and Hart works a reverse chinlock from there. Hart with a headbutt when Billy starts to escape, and a standing dropkick leads to a turnbuckle smash. Owen with a cross corner whip, and a clothesline sends Billy spiraling on the rebound. Hart with a missile dropkick for two, and a bodyslam leads to a tag to Doink - who promptly misses an elbowdrop to Owen’s frustration. Tag to Bart for a jumping clothesline, and a bodyslam sets up a kneedrop. Vertical suplex gets two, so he grounds the clown in a bow-and-arrow. Doink fights to a vertical base, so Bart shifts to a headlock, but Doink is close enough to the corner to tag. Owen hustles in with a gutwrench suplex, and a bridging northern lights suplex follows for two. Back to Doink for an avalanche, but Bart sidesteps, and tags out. Billy with a backelbow for two, and a bodyslam is worth two. Drop-toehold allows Billy to apply an armbar, but a backdrop gets countered with a sunset flip for two. Doink with a small package for two, and a backslide, but he can’t get him over. That draws Owen in to help, but he accidentally nails his own partner, and Billy hooks the leg on Doink at 11:03. This was an interesting match, with everyone turning it up a little, and no formula. ** ½ 

WWF Women's Title Match: Alundra Blayze v Saki Hasegawa: Hasegawa tries a corner whip right away, but Blayze flips onto the apron to block, and rushes back in with a takedown. Hasegawa fights back with a running dropkick, however, and adds a cool four-alarm no-release butterfly suplex for two. Pop-up powerbomb, but Alundra counters with a rana for two, and she spinkicks her challenger in the corner. Snapmare sets up a chinlock, and she shifts into a bodyscissors. Hasegawa slugs free, and cracks Blayze with a series of chops, then a dropkick. Jumping clothesline gets the challenger two, so she grounds the champ in modified muta lock. Blayze fights to a vertical base and counters to a front-facelock, then delivers a vertical suplex for two when Saki tries escaping. Blayze grounds her in a hammerlock, then drills her with a spinkick for two, so Saki tries a schoolboy, but they’re in the ropes. Blayze with her own schoolboy for two, and a pair of headbutt drops to the groin connect. Alundra takes her to school with a double chickenwing, but Saki fights off a series of kicks, and lands a spinkick. Saki decides to turn it into a series of them for two, and she traps the champion in a Boston crab. Blayze inches towards the ropes, so Saki shifts to a half crab, but Alundra escapes. Saki cradles her for two, but a trip to the middle rope ends in Alundra slamming her off. Blayze pounds her with knees, and a backslide is worth two. Saki fights back with a suplex, and a bodyslam sets up a flying splash, but Blayze lifts her knees to block. That allows the champion to try for a German suplex, but Saki counters with a victory cradle for two - reversed by Blayze for two. Back to the German, but Saki holds the ropes to block, so Blayze clotheslines her over the top instead. Alundra goes up for a dive to the outside, but Saki slams her to the floor before she can leap. Saki with her own dive to the outside, but Blayze dodges, and the challenger wipes out. That allows Alundra to try a suplex back in from the apron, but Saki snaps her throat across the top rope to block, and throws a spinkick for two. Again, but Blayze ducks this time, and uses the momentum to hook a bridging German suplex at 10:53. This was decent most of the way through, before it got really good in the closing moments. ** ½ 

Bob Backlund v Masashi Aoyagi: This feels like a style clash before the bell even sounds. They feel each other out to start, until Aoyagi blocks a single-leg takedown, and nails him with an enzuigiri. Aoyagi with a series of strikes, so Backlund suplexes him, dropping Aoyagi right on his head. Aoyagi gets up and hiptosses him into a short-armscissors, so Bob tries fighting to a vertical base, but Aoyagi keeps blocking the attempts, sinking his teeth into the hold. Finally, Backlund successfully powers out of the hold, and delivers a butterfly suplex. Bodyslam, but Aoyagi is ready with an inside cradle for the pin at 6:07. This didn’t work at all. The more I see of Backlund’s babyface 90s run, the more I absolutely loathe it. He’s like a man out of time, and it worked so much better as a heel. ½*

Yokozuna v Undertaker: Was Leslie Nielsen aware of this? I always loved how Undertaker would get right in Yoko’s face whenever they’d have a staredown. Yoko tries charging, but Undertaker dodges, and hammers him with rights. Yoko comes back with a clothesline and a corner whip, but an avalanche misses, and Undertaker clotheslines him. DDT drops the big guy, but he gets back up right away, and drills Undertaker with a clothesline. Undertaker sits up, so Yoko puts him down with another clothesline, and adds a legdrop to make sure his dead ass gets the message. Undertaker still sits up, however, and they spill to the outside - Undertaker feeding him the apron and post ahead of picking up the countout at 2:57. This was all it needed to be - short, inoffensive, and had star power. ¼*

Randy Savage and Genichiro Tenryu v Rick Martel and Adam Bomb: Martel is subbing for Shawn Michaels here, which is a shame. Savage and Bomb start, and Adam powers him around, so Macho starts moving. Bomb clobbers him with a shoulderblock and passes to Martel, but Randy reverses a turnbuckle smash on him, and grabs a headlock. Martel tries a hiptoss, but Macho blocks. Backslide, but Macho reverses for two, and delivers a clothesline. Over to Tenryu, so Martel throws knees at him - by the dozen! Tenryu turns the tables with chops in the corner, and a hiptoss gets him two. Tenryu backdrops him into a wristlock, but Rick fights to a vertical base, so Tenryu delivers an atomic drop, and clotheslines him out of the ring. Rick tags out as he climbs back in, but Tenryu fights off the big Bomb, and even delivers a bodyslam. Bomb comes back with one of his own, but Tenryu is all about the chops, and Adam ends up on the outside. Tag to Macho for a flying axehandle, but Bomb powers into his home corner for a tag. Savage goes after Martel’s arm, so Bomb takes a cheap shot, and the tide has turned. The heels go to work on Savage, until Bomb misses an elbowdrop, and Tenryu gets the hot tag. He runs wild on Martel, and passes back to Savage to dive, but Bomb breaks it up. That allows Martel to try a backdrop on Randy, but Savage counters with an inside cradle at 10:15. This was very basic and uninteresting, but competent. * 

Main Event: WWF Title Match: Bret Hart v Bam Bam Bigelow: Bigelow goes to the eyes as they get started, and he hammers on the Hitman some. Shoulderblock puts the champion down, and Hart is quick to roll out of the ring to buy time. Hart sweeps him and delivers a series of pointed elbowdrops as Bigelow’s legs are caught in the ropes, then dumps him to the outside to dive on with a plancha. Whip into the rail follows, and Bret rolls him in. Bam Bam tries a press-slam, but Hart topples him for two, so Bigelow blasts him with a baseball slide on the outside. Bret slips back in and hammers with right hands, and a jumping backelbow knocks Bigelow out of the ring. Hart dives at him from the apron, so Bam Bam grabs the steps, and nearly brains the champion before the referee can step in. Bret beats the count, so Bigelow puts the boots to him, and delivers an enzuigiri to set up a headbutt drop. Bam Bam drills him with a headbutt, and he works a ropechoke, then corner whips the champion. Bret, of course, sells that like no one else can. Bam Bam with a pair of headbutt drops for two, so Bret tries slugging, but Bigelow cuts that off with a dropkick for two. And a weird one, at that. Another headbutt rattles the Hitman, and the challenger works a sleeper. Hart fades, but stays in the game on the third arm drop, so Bigelow delivers a butterfly backbreaker for two. Backbreaker rack looks to draw a submission, but Hart again stays in it on the third arm drop, and uses a side suplex to escape. Bret tries making a comeback, so Bigelow goes to the eyes, but Hart dodges a dropkick. Russian legsweep gets the Hitman two, and a 2nd rope clothesline is worth two. 2nd rope bulldog gets two, but a cross corner whip gets reversed. Bam Bam charges in, but Bret uses a boot to block, and rides him with a victory roll for two. Nice callback to the famous King of the Ring match there. Sharpshooter, but Bigelow blocks with such force that Hart ends up on the outside. He dusts himself off and climbs to the top rope, but Bigelow catches a dive in a bearhug. Bret bites his way out of it, and tries a side suplex, but Bigelow topples for two.  Headbutt drop softens Bret up for the flying moonsault, but Hart rolls out of the way, and slaps on the Sharpshooter at 14:32. These two had a bunch of matches together throughout 1993, and they were always a reliable pairing, though this would be their last ever. This was solid throughout, but the last few minutes were truly tremendous, including some great callbacks to earlier matches. ** ¾  

BUExperience: This was a really good house show, with some great guest stars, and most of the roster turning it up. It kind of reminded me of late 90s WCW, with a bunch of good (if random) matches filling up the undercard, and a lot of the top stars in cruise control. 

***